Hull decal remains

I have an 81 H18 that I have removed the original decals. The decals have left ridges in the hulls.

Due to the age of the boat and condition of the hulls, I started wet sanding the hulls and buffed with the proper compound. The hulls look much better but the remains of the decals are clearly etched in the gel coat.

Does anyone know were decals put on and then sprayed over or is it possible the adhesive from the decal etched its way into the gel? Last, any advice where to order new vinyl graphics for the hulls?

Thanks,
Tom[/img][/url]

What's under the decals is the original gel coat. The rest of the boat's gel has eroded away over time (sun exposure), leaving the raised, protected gel where the decals were.

Try a sign shop for replacement vinyl decals. Some dealers still have replacement vinyl striping.

he's right about the get coat...

this past week, I removed the hull stripes from my '88 H18 and found the hull underneath was in perfect-from-the-factory condition, and raised from the area immediately adjacent. 20 years of sun, water and washing has caused the gel coat to thin out. I had to be careful about polishing my hulls not to take too much off.

gel coat that has sat out and bleached is also very porous, which is how it wears away. it took me 3 coats of wax to seal it where it could be buffed out to a high gloss, which also hardens the wax.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Thanks for the responses.

I was not aware that the gel coat wears sitting outside on a trailer. I know the sun can be tough on the surface but I thought the gel coat was the protective layer over the fiberglass. Mother nature wins again.

Chris, when you buffed your hulls, what material did you use to bring back the shine and/or remove the oxidation? I am in the process of removing all the old decals as they are peeled on all the edges.

Thanks.

T-

think about it, over time the gel coat gets wet and dries and exposed to sunlight, and again and again. like the protective clear coat on your car's paint, without good care it will disappear or fade, the gel gets porous.

porous gel coat soaked with water can't be fast sailing.


Meguiar's car products have worked very well. Use their 1-2-3 polish wax system.
#1 is paint cleaner, which did not work for me due to the extent of gel coat fade, I used white 7 polishing cream. You can use #1 if your fade is minor
#2 is Meguiar's polish, be sure to wipe it off right away and not dry to much... or you'll be at it all day.
#3 is the carnuba wax. took me 3 coats to get enough into the gel coat.

After a wash, first thing I did was to remove the stripe and glue residue (with Ooops) and clean up with acetone. Then used my 10" electric buffer for all steps. It is good to use a separate pad cover for each product step.
Always terry cloth covers, lambs wool or similar for the buffing

It takes a lot of work. I tried a 5" pad on my angle grinder but it was too agressive. Steps 1 & 2 are the most important and it will some finess to keep it all even looking.

so I did 3 coats of wax and a buff. I will probably try again as I don't think its a hard enough finish yet. more elbow grease!

have a go at it.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Chris - I have wet sanded a few clear coat cars in the past after painting them, but I get the feeling the gel coat process will be different.

My concern is if the gel is worn as my boat appears, buffing or waxing may not do anything as there isn't much there to work with. You stated you waxed 3x and then buffed. Did you buff the wax after hand an application? I have a number of foam pads for my buffer. Would they work or is lambs wool required?

Thanks for the information.

the wax was applied coat by coat, without buffing in between. I buffed using the orbital buffer after the third coat.
The gel coat just drank up the initial coats of wax, it was that starved.

I can't imagine your hulls being so worn that there's little gel coat left. If you have a big orbital sander with a terry cover, the polishing cream will do the trick and not take much off at all.

foam is for applying wax, etc. Lambs wool or similar is what you need for buffing.

All during this, I wondered whether there is a compatible product like a clear coat, that could be used instead of wax. Would go on liquid and get buffed out... and hopefully last longer than the wax.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

I have seen clear gell coat (only the label on the can). I wonder if this is what you are looking for in terms of a car like clear coat. The other thing I saw on the shelf while shopping for fibreglass repair stuff was something called "air dry" which you mix with your gell coat before spraying and it claims to make the gell coat more shinny (and illiminates the need to spray PVA on the gell coat in order for it to dry).

I have not tried any of these so I can't speak to it. I hope to be spraying white gell coat with "air dry" this weekend over my repair area so I will have more to report next week if anyone is interested.

I know there are folks on this forum who have loads of experience in this area (because they have helped me more then I can ever repay) so you may get more on this from them.

I did purchase a bottle of Teflon sealer last week. I have not tried it yet but it is suppose to seal in the wax so it last longer. I'll try it on a small portion of a hull and report back.

I have wet sanded an area with 1200 wet/dry sandpaper which removed the glaze and buildup of oxidation. Just a few minutes of this elbow grease made the hull look much better. I just need to get a shine back and then seal with wax and/or the teflon. I'll try a hand wax application.

Here's the site and information: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... Wax+Sealer

T-
good suggestion about the Teflon sealer, I'll ask the crew at tonight's race if anyone's used it.

Adrio-
I sure would love to hear from others who've gone through this project for they're feedback as well.

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Chris
'88 H18SE Arís

Try Poliglow. See their website. Amazing stuff for worn and oxidized fiberglass hulls. Worked well for me for an 83 yellow hull Tequila Sunrise boat. Powerwashed, then used the Poliglow cleaner product, then the five coats of Poliglow recommended by the manufacturer. It is some type of clear coat, works amazingly well on fiberglass & gel coat surfaces.

RPDealer