Painting Over Gelcoat

Like any painting project preparation is the key and in this case you will be painting over the slick shiny surface of gelcoat.

Painting over gelcoat.

For smaller surface areas like a chair apply the gelcoat using a paintbrush using short vertical strokes. Before you can spray paint any type of fiberglass surface you will need to employ specific preparation techniques to condition the fiberglass to accept paint or the finish will peel soon after application. Yes you can apply gelcoat over a surface that s already covered with gelcoat. Thanks for the reply.

You ve cleaned compounded and waxed and it looks good for a while but the chalkiness returns maybe the red accent stripe that used to look so good looks pink or the dark blue bootstripe is now baby blue. What it has are five ribs about 3 wide. The color is also the same. And gelcoat over large areas is a ton of sanding not fun.

If it s a large surface such as a boat or a bathtub use a gelcoat spray gun to apply a coat over the existing coat. If so then it s time to think about refinishing the gelcoat. I had thoughts of just sanding with 330 to rough it up and the put on 2 3 coats of awlgrip. Unlike wood fiberglass surfaces are nonporous making them unsuitable for spray paint adhesion.

So the gelcoat on your boat is looking chalky and faded. I ll look into the interlux paint. One is just in front of the stern seat and the other four are equally spaced to just aft of the bow seat. With a bit of work and a fair amount of care you can achieve your goal.

Sounds like what i m looking for. Not only do you want the paint job to look good you want to preserve that shiny gelcoat like surface.