Do I have paint or gel coat? Starting Refit..

[Hopffc2003]

1967 Hatt 34 SF. The hull is an off white color. Overal in good shape but I had areas repaired and leveled out and when done last year they couldnt color match. So the spots are obvious different colors. Im prepping for a complete paint job. Thinking deeply into Alex seals new leveling non tip paint. Does it matter if my boat is gelcoated or painted? Or can I paint it regardless. Working with gel coat seems a job for a pro. Thanks Guys.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

843-654-7755

 

[Captain Ralph]

I understood all Hatts were factory painted.

 

[SEVEN]

I agree with Captain Ralph. I also believe that Alex seal is one of the newest and best products that I’ve seen. Please make sure that you do a test sample using some of their reducer on a rag and then tape it to a non-conspicuous area and cover it with a piece of plastic so the air doesn’t dry it out. Leave it on the paint for 24 hours. If the paint is not harmed then you can go ahead and prep and use Alex seal as your finish coat. If somebody has painted it with an oil base enameling the past the alex seal will act like a very expensive paint remover. Read the instructions carefully.

 

[Boatsb]

Your boat was painted at the factory and probably repainted since. If you have no knowledge of what's on there don't just paint over it.

All the top paints require a good surface. Primer and prep is more important than paint. It's a system of adhesion to the old surface, sealing and fairing the old surface and the top coat is the last step. I've seen some good results with DIY but I've seen some bad ones too.

 

[Scarlett]

Look on you tube for BoatworksToday Today, he did a test of the Alexseal with the no tipping additive.

 

[madhatter1]

All are painted gelcoat.

 

[madhatter1]

Gelcoat is used in the mold. Hatteras then painted. Maybe because although the gel was shiny and could be buffed out where needed ole Willis was used to painting his boats. The wood boats had to be painted for maintenance. Then maybe they realized paint held up long that gel which would oxidize after a few years. Any gel coated boat can be painted.

I bought a 46 like yours back in 2000. Was sitting for several years. Just scrubbing with no soap and the water around the boat was a huge white cloud from rinsing. One benefit of gelcoat is it can be brought back with compounding and cleaning. Paint? $$ at the boat yard.

 

[Captain Ralph]

From a GT ad;
Condensed version;

Only Hatteras paints every exterior fiberglass surface above and below the waterline with a high sheen linear polyester/urethane based paint.
All exterior fiberglass surfaces above the water line are painted. First, Hatteras sands the entire exterior gel coat surface, then applies 3 coats of primer paint, sand and finish, another 3 coats of primer paint, and a further 3 coats of top coat paint…for a total of 9 layers of paint that will give off a brilliant shine for many years to come.

 

[Captain Ralph]

A release wax is used in Hatteras's molds.
There is no or finish gelcoat..

After release, the hull is de-waxed, faired is needed, primed and painted.

 

[jim rosenthal]

All Hatteras yachts have been painted, over gelcoat, since day one.

Early finishes were Imron and respond very well to cleaning and buffing, but hardly any of those early finishes are still around.

You would more than likely need the primer specified for any new finish- primers function as adhesion promoters and are essential. I would test the primer on a previously finished area before doing anything else. Even if you are putting, for example, AwlGrip over older AwlGrip, you should still use primer to make sure it all sticks and flows out like it should. Even rolled (which uses far less paint) the cost of the pain system is pretty formidable. So you don't want to waste any of it.

 

[bostonhatteras]

A release wax is used in Hatteras's molds.
There is no Gelcoat or finnish coating..

After release, the hull is de-waxed, faired is needed, primed and painted.

your comment may be true of current era Hatteras boats but the "King of Blisters" moniker is directly related to the poor quality gelcoat of the early boats. I know that one layer of the gel coat is black but i suspect that the mold was waxed, then sprayed with a gelcoat very close to Hatteras off white, then sprayed with the charcoal consistency gelcoat-ish stuff, then the lay up schedule.

 

[madhatter1]

I am old.

My boats are old.

I am referring to old boats only.

Todays big goal is trying to find out who shit my pants.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Back to the OP; I'm sure he will be re-painting his boat.

I have also edited my previous post.

Our ole gal will be 43 this summer.
Maybe I can tie up down wind and catch some of his over-spray.

 

[Hopffc2003]

Tks for all the replies guys. I got a very fair price on a light blue wrap. And at this moment Im leaning towards doing that. I intend to keep this classic and paint it when the wrap lets go but for now 3000 is worth it with kids and my business my time I wont get back right now. If you guys think wrapping it will look terrible or fail within a summer feel free to knock some sense into me.

 

[JuiceClark]

I love Imron. They still sell it at FinishMaster, but it's nowhere near as forgiving as the new stuff which flows so nicely.
In areas where it's chipped, you can see Imron is a rock hard coating and can be buffed and wet sanded a dozen + times.

The worst possible nightmare would be spraying good paint over bad stuff. You'd have tough paint peeling off the crap. Getting the good stuff back off, to start over again, would be brutal.

The problem with my boat is somebody had it sprayed with a clear coat long ago. Most of it has flaked off but there's some left in areas which were mostly shaded, like under the eyebrow.
So, when the summer comes, out be out there sweating and spraying the hose and wet-sanding...hoping to get the rest of the clear coat off and bring-out a fresh layer of the original paint without going too deep and ruining the whole thing.