Ever sprayed or brushed gel coat?

[JWC]

Anyway, at least the town council thing (see another thread) has motivated me to spend a day with the VW camper.  I had removed the luggage cap a few weeks ago.  It is fiberglass, well worn with fibers showing and cracks in the gel-coat.

Today, I sanded the luggage cap and it came out darn good.  I have the gel-coat (comes with hardener) and I have mold release to help it cure. 

I can't decide whether to spray it (I have a compressor and a paint gun and also a touch-up gun) or just brush it on.  I don't have a respirator, but I'll be outside.  I hate cleaning my paint guns since I left a dealership with a body shop.  Used to be to take them to work and have them machined cleaned.  Brushing is a simple matter of applying it, let it set up, brush on the mold release.

Anyone here ever done a gel-coat  refinish?  The previous owner had already refinished the pop-up section...he brushed it and unless you look closely, you can't see the brush marks.  Lucky me since the pop-top is the largest section, it covers about 75% of the roof.

I'm looking for hints and advice on how to get the longest lasting finish.

Thanks.

[ChrisV]

I'd brush it on, unless you have a gun specifically set up for spraying it. Gel coat is rally thick, and most regular spray guns (even with a really large orifice for primer spraying) tend to have problems spraying it. I tried to spray it on a couple custom boats and it required cleaning the tip every 5 minutes, as it would start to stop spraying. It comes out more even when spraying, but you can put it on a bit thick and sand it down if that's an issue.

[JWC]

Thanks Chris...new experience for me.  I helped sand down boats, but I've never been around for the "finish"...so to speak.

[giant_mtb]

Was gel coat the predecessor to clear coat, or what?

[ChrisV]

Was gel coat the predecessor to clear coat, or what?

Gel coat is essentially epoxy or, more usually, polyester resin. It's the smooth outer surface for fiberglass parts like boat hulls. It isn't paint. Clear coat, otoh, is essentially paint with zero pigment.

Normally, gel coat is applied to the inside of a fiberglass mold before the fiberglass cloth and resin is laid in. But when repairing cracks and holes in a fiberglass part, you usually have to finish the repair off with a layer of gelcoat to make it blend into the surrounding area and give a smooth top surface that you can then paint or leave as-is.

[giant_mtb]

Ah.