Subject: Fiberglass hull painting
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003

I am currently restoring a 1976 Thompson Voyager (fiberglass) boat. This spring I am planing on painting the boat. The top and sides of the cabin are extremely oxidized, and there are areas of fine cracking in the gelcoat. I have read and I believe all of your Q & A’s, and have found them all very helpful. I believe I have figured out the steps I need to take, and would like to run them by you.

1. Clean and sand the areas. 2. Coat with CPES. 3. Coat with Uniflex 255*. Will this be sufficient to bridge cracks up to ??? 1/32”. Does this sound like I am headed in the right direction.

The remainder of the hull, is currently planed to be painted with AWL Grip.

Thanks for all your help.
Dave E.

Dave,

You may be headed in the right direction, but I should point out that UNIFLEX 255* cures to a matte-gloss finish, not the high gloss finish that the Awl Grip will give you. The UNIFLEX 255* (with the CPES prime coat) will cover the small crazing cracks, and it will give you a coating that will have greater longevity than the Awl Grip. But the two final finishes will be different.

Your alternative here is to contact the Awl Grip manufacturer and ask about what they recommend as a prime coating that will fill in those cracks, and then use the Awl Grip everywhere to get the same final high-gloss finish. Or, if a matte-finish final appearance seems attractive to you, coat the whole hull with the UNIFLEX 255*.

And feel free to come back if you have additional questions.

Doc

* Since Uniflex 255 Aliphatic is no longer available, we suggest our Elasta-Tuff™ 6000-AL-HS instead.