Re: Paint vs Gelcoat
The setup I used is outlined in my thread but it was nothing special I did not use a pressure pot, just a HVLP from Northern tool and a 33 gallon craftsman compressor that makes 6 CFM at 90 psi. Now the general consensus may be that my results were junk and if that's the case just ignore me.
I did three colors, that increased the difficulty in both the planning, the execution of the actual spraying and the post work. If I had gone all white or off white, whatever. I would have finished in a week I expect. The blue and orange were tough to avoid sanding through or showing scratches in. Plus mixing pigment into neutral gel was messy and a real pita. Overall, I sprayed, resprayed and sanded for a month. Probably an average of 6 hours a day.
Although I had read a hundred times, "gelcoat is not like paint" I still went at it at first like I was painting, I think some others have done the same. If you go into it knowing that you can't treat gel like paint, you'll be a step ahead of most. Spray it on thick and then get to sanding. I'm sure you will find that gel is very forgiving, I did mine in my driveway, no protection from bugs, leaves etc. but it all sanded out in the end.
I am not an expert in the gel and epoxy relationship, I have also heard that gel won't adhere to epoxy but have heard others that know a lot more than me say it can be done. I didn't use epoxy on my project so can't personally say either way. I do know that the subject has been addressed many times in this forum so maybe do a search of the threads and you will likely get the info you need.
