Gel coat trials

Tried out the gel coat today. This is a special died-white resin for applying a final, UV-resistant finish. I sanded down the web cam turret a bit (not to complete smoothness), and prepared 27g of gel coat.

Gel coated cam turret The stuff was quite a bit more runny than I thought, and definitely will run and collect on edges. I painted the turret, and had quite a bit left over. I applied some get coat to the inside of the boat (the slats the hold the lid in place), and covered a piece of plywood for cutting and sanding tests. After 20min (it was 30°C) the stuff became very much like cold honey, but still even course brush strokes became absolutely smooth.

The next day: The stuff is rock hard. Filing works. The structure of the glas fiber shines through quite a bit, so sanding to smoothness is mandatory for smooth finished. Especially the overlapping parts are very visible. I noticed "pin holes", the leftover of small bubbles. They are probably the result of retouching the surface when the gel coat became goey.

Still, the end result is going to be very nice; the plywood sample looks very decent, albeit a bit "wavy". I curious what sanding and polishing will do. If this all sounds a bit negative: if the whole ship is going to look like the web cam turret, I shall be happy with the result.

I'll have to to some research on:

• How many layers of glass fiber should I use (probably 2)
• How many layers of gel coat should I apply (is one enough? for polishing?)
• How should I cover (if at all) the thruster openings?
• How should I deal with sharp convex corners (bow/stern)? Concave corners (some backfilling?) Probably want to make a sample.