Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: bbeane on April 18, 2016, 08:08:28 pm

Title: Gel coat checking
Post by: bbeane on April 18, 2016, 08:08:28 pm
Awhile back ( 3 or 4 years ago)I removed the the black nonslip on the roof at the ladder. Today while cleaning the roof I noticed some checking starting where the no skid was. I need to know if one where to sand the area and put a couple of coats of epoxy hull paint for a temporary repair would work. Or does anyone have any other ideas, I'm not currently in a position to get into some big repairs.
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: John Haygarth on April 18, 2016, 08:20:01 pm
Bruce, why not get some epoxy and F G hardener and a roller and just layer on  some? would take the same amount of time and money but would be a complete repair? Who cares what it looks like up there and you can allways recoat to make a pretty looking job if needed
johnH
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: Don & Tys on April 18, 2016, 09:17:30 pm
Bruce,
I am planning on using some marine deck paint that has added particles of sand or whatever for traction, and also will seal those tiny cracks that was where the nonskid stuff FOT put on when new. At least, according to my reading of the paint description of the stuff I have looked at. It will be an experiment! :o
Don
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: Tim Fiedler on April 18, 2016, 10:15:30 pm
Rance at Xtreme urges the removal of the non skid on roof because of the damage that seems to occur over time. He fixed the checking in mine before they painted the roof.
Might give Greg or Rance a call at Xtreme for their input on best way to repair.
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: George and Steph on April 18, 2016, 11:33:47 pm
I have done blister repair on several boats using the West System.  You can find a good discussion of various applications on the West site.    westsystemcom1.site.mobi (http://westsystemcom1.site.mobi/site/ss/finish-coatings/?smallView=1)



Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: bbeane on April 18, 2016, 11:47:56 pm
The epoxy/deck paint is kind of what I had in mind. I was surprised how quick the checking came about it wasn't there 6 weeks ago when I cleaned the roof. Thanks for the replies.
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: Kemahjohn on April 19, 2016, 08:50:23 am
Use caution----polyester gel coat resin and epoxy resin are not very compatible.  It is simple matter to sand and reapply gel coat.  It can be sprayed or rolled and even brush applied.  Add a release agent ( poly vinyl alcohol) so that the gel coat will harden with out leaving a sticky surface and then sand and buff  for desired sheen.  You can buy a color matching kit for a few bucks.
Color matching is the hardest part of the process.
Title: Re: Gel coat checking
Post by: BillO on April 19, 2016, 01:24:21 pm
Rance at Xtreme urges the removal of the non skid on roof because of the damage that seems to occur over time. He fixed the checking in mine before they painted the roof.
Might give Greg or Rance a call at Xtreme for their input on best way to repair.
Rance did a minor version of this same repair on my coach.  He fixed the checking and then sprayed color matched gel coat (with some of the non-skid beads in it) over the area where the original non-skid stick-on was.  I had several other pieces of glasswork done at the same time so it isn't easy to sort out the exact cost but I don't think that one was expensive.