Chalky Gellcoat

[Dave Ullrich]

I have a 1983 Catalina 30. The ggelcoat is getting chalky. It also is stained in several areas. Is there anything I can to for it? Is it too late? I know painting would solve the problem, but that is out of my price range for now. I am more concerned with getting it nice and white and eliminating the chalk comming off and getting on people/things, and am less concerned with gloss.

 

[Gene Foraker]

Compound

I found Meguiar's Super duty color restorer (a type of rubbing compound) to work great on my previous 1984 C-30. Their heavy duty is good, but not a strong in severe cases. Be sure to change the towels often and stay in one place long enough. Once the shine starts to show through, cover with a good wax. Other people have said good things about 3M rubbing compound and Island Girl products.

 

[Steve Dion]

Compound II

Dave: Seems to me that you need to do whatever you can to get the chalk off the boat first. If you have a buffer and know how to use it without burning the glass this would be the most expeditious method. After this step is to you liking then you have some decisions to make. I like the Island Girl Products. It has made my gel coat very smooth like a new boat. When you use their SeaGlow product it fills in the pours of the gel coat. You can use their wax too and then continue to use any other products to keep it looking like new. The other option is to use one of the Acrylic finishes that have been recommended by others on the website. I would just start in the cockpit area and find out what works for you. If you decide to go with Island Girl and decide that it is not what you want, you do not have to remove it. If you decide that you want to use the acrylic finishes and do not like the results, you will need to remove it before you can do anything else.

 

[A.L. ("Jim") Willis Pres of ISLAND GIRL PROD.]

Don't grind you gelcoat away with compound!

You should only use compounidng when the gelcoat is very rough (feel with finger nail)or the outer layer of the gelcoat has fading of the pigmnet (red beomes orange etc). The smart thing to do is to SELECTIVELY DISSOLVE AWAY the chalk, using Island girl Cleansers. This does not thin out the gelcoat (very important on stripes) or rub through on edges. Use IG Pink chalky non-skid (because it can be rinsed off). On smooth gelcoat, the cleanser conditioners (CLEAR FOR NEUTRAL COLORS, SEA GLOW FOR WHITE, BLUE, RED & OTHER BRIGHT COLORS)will not only remove chalk on surface but also deep down (again by chemically dissolving and "drawing up"). THis is the only way that true depth can be brought back to black or dark blue.THe surface should then be sealed to make it watertight and shiny (the shine comes from thickness of sealant. Use spray on SILKENSEAL sandwiched around a layer of collinite or similar stiff paste wax. Or use our sealant/wax combo (temporarily out). I have also seen good results with POLYGLOW over SEA GLOW, but have not tried on white gelcoat.OK- I know this sounds like an advert but if you know of any other cleaner that similarly dissolves out the chalk without wearing away the boat - use it!(my Lee Iacocca line).Otherwise thanks for the mention anyway!Jim WThe only time compounding (with or without wet-sanding) is necesay