Typhoon Barrier Coat

[Ron Ellis]

I'm preparing to barrier coat my Typhoon bottom, and need to benefit a little from your collective experience.

I've removed the bottom paint, and in many places the gelcoat has hundreds of hairline cracks. Will standard (West, Sys 3, Interlux) epoxy barrier coat products fill or seal these cracks? I understand the process of rolling on, then squeegeeing to fill pin holes as described in the West System literature. It seems this should also work with my cracks, but is this a safe assumption?

Gluvit specifically claims that it will fill and seal cracks in fiberglass. Have any of you used Gluvit as a barrier coat?

I've used the search function and already read many opinions on barrier coat products and their application. I haven't yet settled on a product yet, so if you've got a favorite product or an application tip, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Ron Ellis
Austin, TX
Ty #1537



tophat@io.com

[sloopjohnl]

my experience was a little different in that my gelcoat had the pox (covered in small blisters). i removed all the gelcoat, applied about an equal thickness of west system epoxy and barrier coat and have been blister free for eleven seasons. i would think that if you sanded off the bottom paint and then sanded the gelcoat to remove any gloss and give it a fair surface, you could easily apply two or three coats of epoxy and then the recommended two coats of barrier to restore your bottom to the original thickness. this would seal the cracks and solve that problem. if you have any cracks deeper or wider than hairline i would dig them out and fill before applying epoxy.
one caution - you must buff all the gloss off of the final coat of
barrier coat for your bottom paint to adhere properly. if not it will chip off at those spots that are glossy smooth.

I'm preparing to barrier coat my Typhoon bottom, and need to benefit a little from your collective experience.

I've removed the bottom paint, and in many places the gelcoat has hundreds of hairline cracks. Will standard (West, Sys 3, Interlux) epoxy barrier coat products fill or seal these cracks? I understand the process of rolling on, then squeegeeing to fill pin holes as described in the West System literature. It seems this should also work with my cracks, but is this a safe assumption?

Gluvit specifically claims that it will fill and seal cracks in fiberglass. Have any of you used Gluvit as a barrier coat?

I've used the search function and already read many opinions on barrier coat products and their application. I haven't yet settled on a product yet, so if you've got a favorite product or an application tip, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Ron Ellis
Austin, TX
Ty #1537

[Bob Chamberland]

I'm preparing to barrier coat my Typhoon bottom, and need to benefit a little from your collective experience.

I've removed the bottom paint, and in many places the gelcoat has hundreds of hairline cracks. Will standard (West, Sys 3, Interlux) epoxy barrier coat products fill or seal these cracks? I understand the process of rolling on, then squeegeeing to fill pin holes as described in the West System literature. It seems this should also work with my cracks, but is this a safe assumption?

Gluvit specifically claims that it will fill and seal cracks in fiberglass. Have any of you used Gluvit as a barrier coat?

I've used the search function and already read many opinions on barrier coat products and their application. I haven't yet settled on a product yet, so if you've got a favorite product or an application tip, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks,

Ron Ellis
Austin, TX
Ty #1537

Hi Ron,
I've not used Gluvit.
I have just recently completed a rehabilitation of Ty #336. There were a number of gouges etc and after removing the bottom paint in those areas I discovered that someone had taken off portions of the gelcoat and used epoxy over it. I did the repairs with West404 and faired the rough spots with west410. The area under the bootstripe on the starboard side was really a mess of crazing. The topsides on the starboard side were also badly crazed. It was impossible to scratch out all of the lines but I did the worst ones and filled them with West410. I scrubbed the hull with soap and water and ammonia before I did any work on it, after I scraped out the crazing I scrubbed it again let it dry and then went over it a couple of times with Interlux2333. I used Interlux404/414 barrier coat over all repairs including bottom repairs and over the whole topsides. I did one coat of the barrier coat, I should have done two coats. I sanded away most of the barrier coat and it appeared to have filled all of the crazing.I used 2 coats of Interthane Plus on the topsides and it was beautiful. I used Off white and just rolled it on. No brushing. They don't recommend this for darker colors-they strongly recommend the brushing to tip off the roller marks. The lighter colors will work without the brushing. A few days after I painted the topsides in the bright sunshine I saw that a few of the worst crazing that hadn't been faired with the 410 was telegraphing through the finish. Hence the need for two coats of the 404/414 barrier coat. You have to get your nose right on the hull to see the slight lines. Next spring I'll put on another coat.

The Interlux people specify 2 or 3 THIN coats of the Interthane Plus and they really mean thin. On my first coat I saw that I had plenty of paint and started to put it on a little heavier. Runs. The second coat I used about 2/3 thirds as much paint as the first coat and really rolled it out. No bubbles, no runs, but there were a few holidays where I missed in the dark of my garage.

All in all it looks great.

When you are coating epoxy, be sure to SCRUB before sanding, scrub before the barrier coat and it doesn't hurt to scrub between the barrier coat and the finish coat. Make sure everything is absolutely dry before coating though. But this doesn't really answer your question about the bottom. The epoxy barriercoat will seal the crazing and the bottom paint will do the rest.



cha62759@traverse.com

[Bill Bloxham]

Assuming that one were to scratch out the cracks in the fall (at least in the northern climes) and let them dry out over the winter, the first step could be a application of penetrating epoxy to reach the unseen damage.After sunlight or a mild application of a heat gun, let the boat soak up as much of the penetrating epoxy as it wants. I would wipe the external surfaces clean with a scraper before it leaves the green stage just to make faring easier later. If you keep everything green during the layup process, you will have a better bond.
I put 9 coats of WEST epoxy with the #422 barrier coat additive on my Ty. Took about 5 hours working alone.
Have not tried the Gluvit, but I am skeptical of any product that does all that in every case every time. I've had cracks that filled in one application, and some that looked similar on the surface that took 3 or 4 tries to fill. Remember, crazing is usually an indication of something going on under the surface, and no one answer fits all.
Good luck
Bill



mmmmmmbill@aol.com

[Fred]

The only way to get rid of cracks in gelcoat permanantly is to remove it, and either regel, or fair and paint. Given that your cracks are below the waterline, I'd just epoxy coat it,

West works well, and they offer alot of support for the do it yourselfers.

Interlux's products also work well, and are easier to use. There barrier coat system requires no sanding after the inital gelcoat sanding, which is nice. It's really smelly stuff though, you'll need a charcoal filtered mask.



fred@hotsheet.com

[Bob Chamberland]

Remember, crazing is usually an indication of something going on under the surface, and no one answer fits all.

Good luck
Bill

Two sources of information relating to this project are "This Old Boat", by Don Casey, the other is the Gougeon's paperback book on repair of fiberglass hulls. I have misplaced the Gougeon book and can't give the exact title. Don Casey tell us that early fiberglass hulls were in a sense experimental consequently the builders figured more is better in many cases. Unfortunately in the case of gelcoat he says they have found that more is not best. The thicker gelcoats do have a tendency to craze.

Bob Chamberland



cha62759@traverse.com