Boat has grainy feeling to gel coat

[rjames47]

New to the forum here and new to boating. I inherited my Father’s 89 sketter bass boat. It has a lot of oxidation on the hull of the boat. On the gunwale, hoping I used the correct term, It feels grainy. I’d like to restore it the best I can. I was just wondering if the gunwale is to far gone? Is there anything I can do to fix this?

 

[tpenfield]

:welcome:

From what I can see . . . oh wait, I can't see anything.

Got some pictures to post? You should read the pictures posting instructions, as seeing what you are seeing will help with responses.

 

[rjames47]

It use to have a smooth finish but I pressure washed it off

 

[rjames47]

It’s just the gunwale that is this way. The roughness could be the glitter as well

 

[zool]

With bass boats, the grainy feeling is usually the edges of the metal flakes protruding thru the deteriorated clear gel. Not really repairable except for a bandaid fix of hitting it with a urethane clear.

But like Ted replied, pics will help us help u, but u need at least 3 or 4 forum posts before you can post up pics...so chat a bit, and then upload.

 

[MTboatguy]

There is no good way to fix those when the edges of the metal flake come through the top coat, other than sanding and a complete refinish, I hate those metal flake boats for that very reason.

 

[rjames47]

Thanks for the replies. I figured the next step would be a new paint job. I’m going to try zool’s bandaid for now. I think that’s what was on it when I pressure washed it.

 

[Dennischaves]

The clearcoat is burned (oxidated) from the sun
you need to respray it
You might get away with just wetsanding with1000 grit and reclear it ....the problem with that is that as soon as the sandpaper hits the metallic you will see it after you clearcoat it

 

[mickyryan]

if you have good flake as in no bare spots i would look into clear gelcoat it goes on thicker and requires a good bit if sanding but it might just save the glitter, if too expensive , i have actually seen folks build up coats of zep floor polish the wet look polish , takes several coats but can get by a season or two with it and easily stripped off with floor wax stripper , has hi solids, another option is clear urethane bed liner material slightly thinned and shot with a hlvp, reason to use that over normal urethane is its got more solids goes on thicker. 2 or 3 coats of it would give you high build you could wet sand to a glasslike finish.

 

[tpenfield]

Never seen metal flake deteriorated that much

An idea might be to apply clear epoxy instead of clearcoat polyurethane (paint).

 

[rjames47]

Thanks everyone for the help. It doesn’t have any chips or damage to the area. The flakes are just exposed/ deteriorated that much. Tpenfield I’ll look into your suggestion too. I’m just trying to figure out what to do. My father had sanded it awhile back 5+ years ago

 

[zool]

Most epoxy resins dont have UV protection, and will yellow fast....Awlgrip makes a tough clear Poly that will do the job, A bit pricey tho...

 

[rjames47]

Zool would that be awlgrip hdt clearcoat?

 

[zool]

Zool would that be awlgrip hdt clearcoat?

Yea, Its kinda a hybrid that combines the durability of their Linear Polys, with the repairability of their Acrylic....

 

[rjames47]

Thanks Zool