Removing Loose Gelcoat

     Today's focus was to take the loose, cracking gelcoat off in the most efficient and cost-effective way...or some combination thereof.  Brought the 3/8" chisel into the line up.

My initial sanding effort (40-grit PSA disks on the 5" Porter Cable) worked well to take the factory non-skid off; however, in areas, where the gelcoat was applied a bit too thick, I needed a better approach.  The age of this W32, coupled with the harshness of the sun and rain, intense cold and heat...will overtime expose the weakness in the gelcoat's surface.  I would have spent quite a bit of unnecessary time sanding thick gelcoat off had I not broken out the chisel.  The chisel allowed me to remove large portions of loose material quickly, not to mention cheaply.  There were sore muscles on the back end of this, but I'll sacrifice some muscle discomfort to save a few bucks!

My main areas of concern were the aft portions of the port and starboard side decks, and especially the deck scupper depressions.  While both side decks had areas of flaking, cracking gelcoat, the port side was especially bad; and so bore my initial focus.  

The aft portion of the port side deck holds the worst of it.  The picture just above shows a large area just forward of the deck scupper - which also was in poor condition, and required removal of nearly all of its gelcoat.

 The decks themselves were not the only areas with gelcoat showing poor conditions.  The bulwarks also had areas showing concern.  Here, just aft of a molded stanchion mount on the port bulwark, you can see the area that required removal of the gelcoat.  Also, the radius transition from deck to bulwark needed sporadic attention for the length of the side deck.

     The picture to the right shows the port deck scupper after I applied the chisel approach to taking care of this cracking gelcoat.  It will, no doubt, take a patient approach to fairing this area out.  Unfortunately, the extent of this removal was necessary.  The last thing I want, and I keep this fresh in my mind as I spend time on the W32, is to have substrate failure beneath hours devoted to a great paint scheme and fresh decks.  The labor continues.

     A close up of the removal work...fairing with low-density filler and colloidal silica to come.

     Finally, here is a portion of the foredeck that required gelcoat removal.  The gelcoat lifting off just aft of this removed section, showing a smiley face, is exactly the type of area that I was addressing on this work day...nothing funny about it though.






Date of Work: February 18th, 2012; 4 hrs.