Vinyl or Gel Coat Bayliner Deck? The latest development....

[Mark42]

As you may have read in other posts, the plan was to remove the carpet from the '85 Bayliner and install Nautolex Deco Dot vinyl. But then Ooops suggested going with gel coat so I have been thinking about that option.

Then this past Tuesday that freak snow storm caused the cover on the Bayliner to rip right down the center (right on the pvc support frame) and snow and rain fell into the boat. The tarp ended up acting like a funnel and directed most of the snow and rain into the open ski locker/bilge, but some of the carpet did get soaked.

Yesterday I was in the boat taking some measurements and seeing how well the boat dried. The carpet was still wet about 8" around the open ski locker. So I pulled it back and found that the plywood floor is all gel coated. It even wraps around the opening for the ski locker and is on the underside of the plywood over the ski locker/bilge.

Well I was very happy to see all that gel coat on the deck. The gel coat was not very smooth, and in a few places I could see cracks in the gel coat near the ski locker opening where the deck flexes becasue there is no support under it. This Bayliner spans 17" between stringers with a cutout for the ski locker hatch (about 12x32"). That leaves about 3" of deck on each side of the stringer that are unsupported where the ski hatch is. Thats where the stress cracks in the gel coat are. Maybe I should add some reinforcement underneath in those areas.

So now I'm thinking it might be better to apply another layer of gel coat on the deck rather than use vinyl.

The glue comes off fairly easily with my thumb nail (the boat is almost 24 years old) so cleaning that up should not be a problem.

Then I guess a good sanding to level and smooth the bumps and lumps then apply 3 more layers of gel using a small roller???

Just not sure if new gel coat should go over the old gel coat without putting down a layer of glass and polyester resin first.

I have all winter to think about it, and I would appreciate your comments. Sorry for the long post.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Vinyl or Gel Coat Bayliner Deck? The latest development....

sand it so you get good adherence, you might put a little cloth over the cracks, so they do not transfer.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Vinyl or Gel Coat Bayliner Deck? The latest development....

I would make the gel coated surface look as good as possible, this will make the surface a better water barrier and also give you the option of putting carpet down if you don't like the gel coat, or remove the carpet for drying and storage.

The best method would be to sand the entire surface and use a thin layer of mat to cover the entire surface. The main reason for covering the whole thing is you never know how well they glassed it when new. Sometimes there are very thin areas with little or no glass, just resin and/or gel coat, these areas crack and let water through. The mat will also give a more uniform surface making it look much better. You can make the nonskid mild or aggressive, it's up to you and easy to do either way.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Vinyl or Gel Coat Bayliner Deck? The latest development....

I would make the gel coated surface look as good as possible, this will make the surface a better water barrier and also give you the option of putting carpet down if you don't like the gel coat, or remove the carpet for drying and storage.

The best method would be to sand the entire surface and use a thin layer of mat to cover the entire surface. The main reason for covering the whole thing is you never know how well they glassed it when new. Sometimes there are very thin areas with little or no glass, just resin and/or gel coat, these areas crack and let water through. The mat will also give a more uniform surface making it look much better. You can make the nonskid mild or aggressive, it's up to you and easy to do either way.

I took the ripped tarp off the boat today and spent some time examining the deck under the carpet. Took a towel and dried the little areas where water puddled, and was happy to see that the gel was solid, thats why water pooled and didn't soak in or leak through. Like you said, there are thin areas, heavy areas, thick mat, thin mat, etc. So even if it is fairly waterproof, it needs a good leveling before a new layer can be applied.

Because this boat is small, and the square footage of floor is fairly small, I think a layer of mat and then one or two layers of 8oz (I have a lot of 8oz that I havent used) should make a nice surface to roll on a few layers of gel with a roller to get that bumpy "latex wall paint with thick roller" look. Bayliner did it on a few surfaces where you walk on the front deck and it looks nice and cleans easy.

Plus, if it doesn't come out nice, I can always lay some vinyl on top.