Regelcoating the cockpit deck.

C

Cutty Sark

New member
Ok hopefully this'll grab Thataway's, or oldgrowth's attention. :) Since I know they have alot of experience in this area. But anyone's tips or thoughts would be appreciated. So I've finished doing all my repairs of the deck and am ready to put a new coat of gray gelcoat on the cockpit floor(old one wearing down anyway) I was planning on prepping the deck by sanding lightly to increase adhesion, cleaning thoroughly and the possibly going over the deck once with a quick wipe of styrene to reactivate older gelcaot a bit, everything taped off of course. Now here are my questions:

1. To get my gelcoat to stand up a bit from being rolled on do I need to thicken it first, or on a fairly light coat will it stand up a bit on its own?
2. I have some factory gray for the floor, but it is unthickened and surely doesn't have a patching agent, I was planning on going the patching agent route rather than trying to cover the whole area with plastic, hoping to retain better non skid by doing so... I have some other gelcoat that comes with the patching agent and so far it has been pretty easy to work with, am I better going with something like that and just matching the color or trying to add thickener, patching agent, and possibly more color if ineeded to what cdory gave me?

Any advice on roller choice, use of styrene, and generally just any help or thoughts on the process would be greatly appreciated.

Sark
 
Sark I did not know the cockpit has gel coat. I see an awful lot of weave which does not look like a gel coat finish. I also have a spatter type of paint finish below the gunnel that goes to the gray deck color. All the smooth shiny surfaces on the rest of the boat is gel coat.

The grey finish looks like a paint with a texture grit added in for grip.

I could be completely wrong, but paint for the cockpit floor would be my choice and it is a lot easier to apply and have good results. Gel coat is so temperature sensitive and it has been to cold to set off resin lately unless you have a controlled environment.
 
paint is a whole lot easier to both apply and maintain. I figure to roll on a coat every couple of years as there is a lot of wear and tear on the floor. One can get interlux deck coat and shake it up and roll it on. Easy George
 
I've got her in a climate controlled warehouse, it's kept at about 70 dgrees on the thermostat but feels a bit warmer due to the circulation, I can turn it up if needed but that temp has been working so far for the gelcoat repair I have done. I'm pretty sure I've asked before and the grey on the cockpit floor is gelcoat, it's just rolled on instead of sprayed. I had to replace a small piece of the core and when contacted for balsa even sea sport said the gelcoat was hand painted on the floor. Thataway did the same thing on Frequent Sea when he replaced the deck I believe. I did think about a two part paint, but they do not wear as well, seems like I've I've read they have about half the life of a gelcoat. The old grey gelcoat actually is still in decent shape. So it obviously wore well. Plus I've been doing some minor gelcoat repairs and have found the process fun to learn and not as hard as I had figured.

Sark
 
1TUBERIDER":q6x9bkev said:
.

The grey finish looks like a paint with a texture grit added in for grip.
Click to expand...

That grey splattered finsh is Zolatone, a textured mixture of two different types of paints designed for not only covering, but also for adding grip to a surface and hiding imperfections in the finish, as you can't see bumps, uneven surfaces, and even cloth weave because of the various splattered colors.

Originally it was a mixture of lacquer and enamel stirred together and sprayed, but modern regulations regarding volatile chemicals and spraying paint have probably changed that.

Another alternative would be to spray the cockpit floor with a pick-up truck bed spray liner, discussed somewhere on this site before.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Wait ...I thought just the white on the inside of the hull with the splattered paint was zolatone not the grey deck. I have a can of grey from the factory and I'm almost positive it's gelcoat(though I haven't opened it). In fact I asked about it here when I bought my 22 and I swear it was confirmed it was gelcoat not paint. :crook

I'll look closer tonight. But again I'm pretty sure the guy at Seasport told me it was gelcoat hand painted.

Sark
 
In many cases I might say to use two part LP paint, and that is what I have done on boats which I have restored. This included mixing glass micro beads as non skid agent, in the first coat to be rolled on, then the second coat with no microbeads. This is applied over the diamond non skid and works well.

But in this case, where the interior of the cockpit is probably grey gel coat, I would stick with gelcoat. BE SURE that the Gel Coat has a SURFACING agent (wax to occlude the air for curing)--or you will have to spray on wax or PVA. (There are other ways to occlude air, but not on an open rolled on gel coat.)

What we did on the C Dory 25 cockpit was to thicken the gel coat (with surfacing agent) with silica to a modest consistancy, and then roll it on, which gave it a good non skid surface. It worked very well. The cabin floor in our C Dory 25 had a similar finish, but it was too agressive. I suspect that it was thickened too much, and that perhaps an open mesh (like the green pads) roller was used. We used a moderate nap roller (where for a smooth finish we would use a fine foam roller).

The rolled on gel coat should last the full life of the boat. I think that just cleaning the deck well, running acetone over it should be sufficient. I don't see need for styrene in this application.

Over all, I suspect that rolling out the entire cockpit will be better than just patching--there will be a better color match and non skid appearance.
 
Cutty Sark":184olvtj said:
Wait ...I thought just the white on the inside of the hull with the splattered paint was zolatone not the grey deck. I have a can of grey from the factory and I'm almost positive it's gelcoat(though I haven't opened it). In fact I asked about it here when I bought my 22 and I swear it was confirmed it was gelcoat not paint. :crook

I'll look closer tonight. But again I'm pretty sure the guy at Seasport told me it was gelcoat hand painted.

Sark
Click to expand...

You're right, the splattered, multi-colored stuff is usually Zolatone, and solid grey shiny stuff may be gel-coat or even more likely a polyester paint, since get-coat won't cure when open to the air (oxygen).

But we've also been through at least three manufacturers of C-Dorys to date and are starting out fresh with the fourth, SeaSport, so things may have been done differently in different eras.

They used to use a lot of Zolatone in boat interiors, but at least for small operations, where they finish one boat at a time, the clean up for the spray equipment takes a lot of time and is inefficient, so many small manufacturers have gone to paining the interiors of hulls by hand with polyester paint or some other alternative.

I don't think any paint you have in a can will be gel-coat, as it requires the addition of a catalyst as well as the control of the oxygen, but it all works out well in a mold where subsequent layers of glass and resin shut out the oxygen which inhibits curing.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Epoxy garage floor coating will work, and hopefully is cheaper than truck bed liner. I've done 2 boats with Rustoleum brand, it's great-Non Toxic 2 part water based Epoxy, very durable, comes with paint chip nonskid in the kit. Available @ Lowe's.
Roger
 
rogerar":1s1cg0w7 said:
Epoxy garage floor coating will work, and hopefully is cheaper than truck bed liner. I've done 2 boats with Rustoleum brand, it's great-Non Toxic 2 part water based Epoxy, very durable, comes with paint chip nonskid in the kit. Available @ Lowe's.
Roger
Click to expand...

Roger-

Good choice!

I used this exact paint on my Avon Rover 280 Inflatable on the floorboards, transom, and oars. It's a good choice, though not as tough as a true 2-part epoxy or truck bed liner. But for the price, you can paint it several times and still come out way ahead!

The absolute best would be a two part polyurethane, which would be so flexible and tough you could use the floor as a bowling alley, though it would be a little short (!). :lol:

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Ok, so I spent the weekend on the boat, prepping the floor etc.. I did open the can of grey that Cdory gave me and stirred it with a stick, and let the stick dry to see if it was a paint. Well it never cured so I'm guessing it's gelcoat, it smells kinda like the other gelcoat that I have but I'm no expert. I guess it could still be a two part paint but I doubt it. I also did some more research on redoing the floor, and I still think I'm going to stick with gelcoat.

Sark
 
I too have a pint can of the grey, cockpit covering. The factory sent it to me a couple years back. They told me I would have to go to Tap Plastics or another outlet as they couldn't ship the hardener with it. But I don't think it is gelcoat. Seems like it is a two part paint.
 
lloyds":2jtnd7fi said:
I too have a pint can of the grey, cockpit covering. The factory sent it to me a couple years back. They told me I would have to go to Tap Plastics or another outlet as they couldn't ship the hardener with it. But I don't think it is gelcoat. Seems like it is a two part paint.
Click to expand...

If it were a two part paint (epoxy), I believe they could ship it.

It's the MEK Peroxide that's strictly regulated; it's a very strong oxidizer, and is used to set off polyester resins and gel coats.

What does it smell like? The polyester products and epoxies have very different tell-tale odors, though I can't describe them sufficiently to differentiate them here. You'll know the difference if you've worked with either of them very much.

One thing I would definitely do before applying the paint: Try it out on something disposable on a test run to be sure it sets up right and you've got the right proportions of hardener to gel coat or part A to B.

Gel coat and other polyester resins have to have wax added to them to set up in the presence of air (oxygen). Plain gel-coat without wax must be covered with wax paper or saran wrap or something similar to set up hard. If it's gel coat, it probably has the wax agent already added, but just to be sure ......... nothing worse than a boat covered in non hardening gooey resin...! This is not a problem with epoxies, though you can get a gooey mess if the proportions are off quite a bit!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Seems like I remember "mek" being mentioned. Must be expoxy then. The non skid is in good shape, mostly the paint has peeled on the port and starboard sides so I am going to get some two part paint, at least that is the preference at this point.Although the bedliner is an intriguing idea I hadn't thought of before.
 
I have a can of the deck "paint" that I picked up from Mark Toland or Mark Dunlap years ago. On the lid is printed, "grey gelcoat for floor - 30cc MEK to 1 QT.- add sand for non-skid" - roll on". It is my handwriting of their instructions.
 
Lloyds-

If it uses MEK peroxide...it's polyester.

"It's the MEK Peroxide that's strictly regulated; it's a very strong oxidizer, and is used to set off polyester resins and gel coats."

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Adeline- Thanks for the tip- My Boat is of that vintage I think, The area up front where the seats are have gelcoat rolled on like Thataway did on the his rebuild. But the cokpit does have sand in the gelcoat , it's funny because I just found this

url]http://www.classicaquasport.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1991[/url]

And decided this was how I'm going to go. Now I was hoping the gelcoat from Cdory didn't have the patching aid/wax so I could use it for the first coat, I will do a test tonight and see if it dries tacky or hard.

Thanks

Sark
 
Gelcoat comes in cans. (also bottles and plastic drums). Like any polyester it does require MEK peroxide to catalize it. It also needs air occlusion as noted, and certainly wax paper (not real good) Siran wrap (slightly better ) or Mylar film (best) will work. But most common is PVA which is an alcohol/wax mixture which is sprayed or brushed on over the Gel coat (and what I use most of the time, on gel coat which does not have wax it it.) As soon as you put any occlusive material like siran wrap over the gel coat it will affect the finish. Sprayed on Gel or rolled on gel coat does better with either wax in the gel coat or sprayed on with PVA. When done in a mold, the mold is first waxed to allow both occlusion and a perfect smooth finish.

As for a non skid--you have a number of options from the thickened gel coat I described (I agree you need to try it first on a small are to get the right consistancy) thru glass micro beads (the best),, sand, or even walnut shells (which I use on stear treads). Anthing that is too abrasive or sharp can cause damage to skin or clothing. This is why I prefer the micro beads over sand (I wore out the seat of the pants in an expensive set of foul weather gear in less than 2 days on a race to Hawaii, where the boat had just had decks repainted and sand was applied.
 
Ok, So I'm done with the deck, and very pleased with the outcome. I went ahead and stuck with the gelcoat,even though I almost got scared off, since everyone shies away from it. I decided to go with a texture that was close to the original sand instead of rolling it on thick so it would stand up, like thataway has done or like it is in the front of the angler. The main reason I chose to go this way was ease of cleaning. The lower profile texture and not so many nooks and crannies will be easier to clean after a hard weekend fishing. I basically just sanded the floor to remove a bunch of the old texture and get to a cleaner surface, after that I washed the floor, then cleaned it with acetone, followed by the first coat of laminating gelcoat, let dry overnight and rolled the second on. It was actually pretty easy, the prep and just getting the color and consistancy were harder than actually applying. Anyway Pics in my album. Maybe I can finally get this boat wet.


Sark

Sark
 
Back
Top