Gelcoat application advice needed

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bhemi

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I have finished fixing the area under my deck hatches and decided to finish it off with a little gelcoat to make it look nicer even though no one will see it. I followed the instructions on the can and added the hardener following the guidelines for our temperatures here ( ~80 degrees ). The gelcoat did not set over night. I applied it with a foam brush and I'm wondering did I lay it on too thick or should I do it again and double up on the hardener? I was using the same stuff I used last summer, does this stuff have a shelf life?
 
bhemi said:
I have finished fixing the area under my deck hatches and decided to finish it off with a little gelcoat to make it look nicer even though no one will see it. I followed the instructions on the can and added the hardener following the guidelines for our temperatures here ( ~80 degrees ). The gelcoat did not set over night. I applied it with a foam brush and I'm wondering did I lay it on too thick or should I do it again and double up on the hardener? I was using the same stuff I used last summer, does this stuff have a shelf life?
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Yes it does but that might not be the problem. Didn't the kit come with a sheet of plastic to place over the repair? Gelcoat will nor cure properly in open air.
Google 'gelcoat repair' , there are a lot of articles and videos.
 
The waxed version will cure in open air, your gellcoat probably isn't waxed. If you cover it with PVA or plastic it MIGHT cure. If not and it's on thick enough once you sand past the 'sticky' it might be cured. I'm trying to learn more about gell-coat and have a LONG way to go.
 
If the gelcoat doesn't have the wax additive, try brushing a coat of PVA over the entire gelcoated surface. Give it a day to two and then wash that off. If it's still tacky, you can probably lay down another layer of gelcoat right over it (and PVA if if it's the non-waxed stuff). If it comes to that, I would go ahead and buy new gelcoat.
 
Thanks

I googled it and got a bunch of sites. Funny thing is the can of gelcoat said nothing about PVA or putting plastic on it. I used it last summer to fill some chips and old screw holes and it set right up.
 
It sounds like the surfacing agent setteled out, get some new gell.
 
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