Still Crazing After All These Years...
Rob Squire, #96, Head-Over-Heels
When I bought #96, the entire cabin top, in fact all of the smooth areas of the gel coat were crazed... more like checking. Instead of making it hard, I chose the lazy approach. First, I sanded with a power sander and 220 sandpaper. I then painted on some primer and sanded with again with 220 and added another coat of primer. Another sanding at 320, then I painted on a coat of Brightside. Now we are down the road about 17 years and I have had a complete resanding and paint with a couple of coats of Brightside. It looks great!
There were a couple of areas which had some deeper crazing, usually at spots were there was an impact of some kind. There, I used my Dermal and a small sharp grinding tip and then filled the areas with a filler and primed and painted... no biggie, for sure! I subscribe to the 50-50 approach to car restoration and I applied it to the boat. That is, it has to look good from 50 feet at 50 mph. Give it a try and see if this approach will be sufficient for your desired outcome. If not, a little sanding and you can apply a more aggressive approach.
Chris Lytle, #391, Chela's Song
My 63 EC had that problem, which I didn't bother with for five years but just redid this spring along with my non-slip... if you're talking about the deck area only...the hull and doghouse is another tale. The original nonslip was pretty much gone and the exposed deck (not non-slip) had many cracks and checks. At least on mine, there wasn't all that much not covered by non-slip... mainly at the edges. For the serious cracks and chips... and knowing no better... I used west system epoxy with some thickener (conidial silica I think) to make it like peanut butter and applied and sanded down smooth. Worked well. Sanded everything then gave it two coats of high build primer (Petit) which filled in the small cracks and checks nicely. Then a couple coats of Petit white one part paint. Looked great. Then taped off the new smooth and painted white sections in order to apply non-slip – Kiwi Grip (Jamestown Distributors) . Love the stuff. Comes in different colors and is like yogurt. "Paint" on an even coating, roll in the texture and immediately remove the tape so it doesn't harden on. I couldn't have been more pleased with the results. Covered all the cracks, chips, etc and even covered the old non-slip such that you'd never know it was there. No grinding or sanding to deal with and really covers up and seals all sins of the flesh... I should be so lucky! It's my first attempt at such a project and if I can do it anyone can. Cheers.
Nick
I had the same problem with my Wanderer, including faded nonskid which showed the brush strokes of the application of the gelcoat. After, wondering, plotting and dreaming of the proper high tech solution for 7 years I took another approach. For a few years I painted the smooth parts with a white flat primer figuring over the course of a few years it would fill the crazing and look good at 20ft, which it did. I liked the look of the flat finish. This also chalked a bit instead of flaking or peeling which I also like because it reduces the paint buildup and is much easier to sand and prep every other year. This year, after painting the smooth parts, I realized the nonskid was just awful. So we went to Lowes and had a lucky break to find a Valspar premixed non skid that was available in ANY COLOR. The color of Interlux and Pettit paints were just not right and that was contributing to my procrastination. We found a great color (tannish grey, similar to weathered teak) and taped and brushed the entire nonskid in hours. We painted right over the old weave pattern. The result is fantastic. It took almost a whole gallon to fill the minor defects and blemishes that disappeared .We love our boat again. The nonskid has a very nice grip. We decided if we had to do this every few years it would be well worth it. I actually expect and hope the nonskid also chalks thin to prevent buildup. We have a friend who used the marine products on her Wanderer, has a bad color, shiny, slippery, uneven finish and peeling paint after a few years that will be difficult to refinish.
Ted Andresen, #75, Gypsy
I am sorry to say that this is not a simple problem with a simple solution. Some crazing may be cosmetic and confined to the outer layers of polyester resin. Others may be due to deeper cracks in the fiberglass reinforced plastic. Sanding followed by a layer of epoxy may fix the crazing. It is sometimes difficult to repair cracks that penetrate through the fiberglass laminate. I sanded my crazed deck a few years ago and then coated it with several layers of epoxy laminating resin. After six years some of the larger cracks reappeared and a few pimples developed in the larger areas of the foredeck. About 90% of the crazing was eliminated by the epoxy and subsequent painting. The only cracks that reappeared were due to underlying structural problems. I now understand that the pimples on the foredeck are due to the differences in thermal expansion rates between the surface epoxy and the polyester resin substrate.
Comment: Rob Squire, #96: "Ted is absolutely correct. If there are structural cracks, they need to be sorted and filled, but crazing from the old gel coat sun exposure need not be a big deal. If you sand and prime, the deeper crazing will reappear. Take a little more time with an old beer can opener or a dremel and get to the bottom of those, then fill and reprime. Attached is a photo of Head over Heels after that type of treatment. On top of the primer is a couple of coats of Brightside. The non skid isn't perfect. There are some patches of crazing, but all in all it is in good enough shape. ...and I too, like the dull finish of the non skid. I'm considering matching the non skid color and using an airbrush and just painting the crazing lines... like I said, there aren't too many spots."
Dan McElwreath, #296
I too have a 63 triton, also at City Island at HYC, and also with a crazing problem five years ago. I asked the Interlux rep at a boat show and he advised me to use a couple of their products. I only had to do light sanding, but I did have to put on two coats of the undercoat, then three coats of the final paint. It was quite easy, but took some time. It has lasted five years and I notice now it should be done again.