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Making Boat GelCoat Look Good!
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Aug 16, 2024
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0:00
What's going on everybody? Welcome to Technicians Tuesday, where today I will be showing you everything that I know and have learned about faring fiberglass in order to make your gel coat come out looking sweet and smooth
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If this is your first video with us, you should consider joining us by hitting that subscribe button and clicking on the notification bell so that you won't miss out on our weekly videos, teaching you more and more about your boat
0:29
and how it works. Now let's get started. Over the past few weeks, we've talked a lot about fiberglass and the different methods
0:39
We've used 406 collidal silica, 407 low density fillers, and 410 microlight faring filler
0:46
I was thinking of what else to use, and then I thought about a controversial product
0:50
that some people love to use and some people hate to use. So we decided to show you the taboo of fiberglassing by faring out this Transom project
0:59
with classic plastic. That's right, Bondo. What some people support, some hate
1:04
and then there's the DIYers that just want to get it done and don't really care about what the difference is
1:10
Now Bondo is made for faring out all kinds of stuff, but it's not really recommended for boats
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because it absorbs moisture and it doesn't flex at all. So if it isn't sealed well
1:20
then it will fail and cause problems. And since I don't have to hold
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to any kind of professional fiberglassing reputation, you get to see what it looks like to finish fiberglassing
1:29
with Bondo. We'll start out here on the inside by using a saws-all and cutting down all the excess
1:35
glass that we have where we glassed up the top sides of our gunnels
1:39
Then we'll use the 407 low density filler to build up the floor and the side pieces of
1:44
the gunnels. For this we just mix up some more resin and add in the 407, mixing it up until it gets
1:50
to a nice peanut buttery consistency. Then we can use a large trowel to smooth it out across the floor and then we'll take
1:58
what's left and use that to build up our sides where those boxes used to be
2:02
We will also use whatever we have left to begin to fill up the sides of the gunnels and fill
2:07
those sections in as well. It's been over a week since we got the Transom glassed up though, opposed to the floor
2:13
and the sides that we just did, so before doing anything we had to do some grinding to
2:18
rough up the surface and get the glass ready to apply any faring material to it
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Now this classic plastic is just like using regular Bondo auto body filler
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You want to mix it up on something solid that isn't going to absorb the material
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It best to use a piece of glass or like what we got here this is a piece of metal that came from an engine powerhead we just filled in the bolt holes with Bondo and this is our mixing board We pull out a
2:46
decent amount and work it a little bit with a putty knife. Then before adding the creamer or hardener
2:51
we want to need the tube by just squeezing it back and forth until we get the creamer all mixed
2:56
up. If it comes out like water, it needs to be mixed up some more. Then for the amount, it's
3:01
basically just a visual thing. You want to put enough hardener to mix it up until it becomes
3:06
a pink color and it's ready to apply. We want to be quick when applying it, it only takes
3:11
a couple of minutes before it completely hardens up. We'll then take a large 10-inch or so trowel and just apply the Bondo, scraping it along
3:25
the transom until we get it to be a pretty smooth layer. This process just continues over and over
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again until we have completely covered the area we are working on. To me, this first layer is basically just a building layer
3:56
We are trying to build up and fill in all the low spots on the transom, and when we come back with what a lot of people call a whirly board, we'll flatten everything out and begin the fairing process
4:06
Once we've got the transom completely covered, we can move on to the inside of the boat
4:11
This also got a grinding before applying any bondo, but after we got it all ground down
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we came back over it with some acetone to clean up the surface before applying anything to it
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Starting with the side sections, we built them up and began to form the bottoms out of them
4:26
Then we moved on to beginning to shape out the top of the transom by using the putty knife
4:30
and rolling the bondo over the top of the transom and then down the inside
4:34
Going back and forth from one side of the transom to the other, letting one side harden as we worked on the other side
4:41
we continued rolling over the top of the transom. It's important to keep a gallon of acetone on hand when faring out anything and cleaning up your plate and the putty knives after each other
5:04
each application. It's a lot easier to clean up before anything gets time to harden up
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and becomes a task to clean off later. After we got the top all covered, we'll just work
5:14
our way down the inside of the transom covering up all the glass class I class I going to be Then we can let us
5:53
or so before we can sand it down again. This is when we are going to use either a long board or if you can get your hands on or
6:00
make one of these, this is what people call a whirly board
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It's basically a 9 by 11 inch piece of aluminum with a piece of 40 grit sandpaper glued
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to it. The aluminum plate is glassed onto an adapter to attach to a grinder and is extremely dangerous
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but it works great when it comes to flattening out the transom. We'll take this and grind down the outside and the inside of the transom
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We want to move around the transom in a sweeping motion, exposing all the low spots that
6:28
will be a darker pink color and knocking down the high spots that will expose the fiberglass
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Once we get all these spots exposed, we can take a large trowel and fill in all the low spots
6:39
to help smooth out the transom. This process takes a lot of time and practice to get good at it, and I'm not the best example
6:46
but you can get the gist of the process and you can see what to do and what not to do
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It's best to use a large trowel on the big spots and we'll use a smaller knife on the smaller spots
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The same thing goes for the inside of the transom. We want to continue filling in the spots and trying to level off the surfaces
7:20
The smoother we get it, the better the gel coat will look. We will basically continue filling, sanding, and leveling over and over again, getting all of the surfaces as smooth as we can
7:30
For the transition into the old non-skid floor, I just put a piece of tape in a straight line across the deck and then filled that in with our filler
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We also sanded down the white sections where the old boxes covered up the unfinished glass and then filled that in as well
7:45
Once we get all of our surfaces pretty smooth, we want to stop using the metal knives and start using a small plastic scraper
7:52
We'll go around and fill in all the deep marks and spots with this, getting the surface as smooth as possible
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It best to stop using your eyes once we are at this point and start feeling the surfaces so that we can feel whether it is lumpy or has any imperfections in it
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It's also important to hold the sander flat against the surface and not use the edge
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of it which creates more high and low spots. We will want to fill in any lines or scratches that are left from our knives as well
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Then for doing the top of the transom here we'll take a long sander like this or an even
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longer one and make a sweeping motion from the outside of the inside and go up onto the top of the
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transom and then back down. We want to work our way along the top of the transom and getting as many
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of the lumps out as we can. This is the best way to level the top out and get it as straight as
8:48
possible. Some things just have to be done by hand when it comes to smoothing them out. This process just
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continues on with the sanding and faring. Most professional fiberglass people can get it pretty
9:00
close in just one coat. That's after years of practice though. As an amateur, I just have to do
9:06
more sanding and more practicing to get it as close as possible. After lots of applying and sanding
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we will eventually get everything smoothed out in all of our surfaces as flat as we can. It's getting
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these surfaces down to this that makes our gel coat come out looking beautiful. As you can see
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this is more of a skilled art form and it takes a lot of trial and error to get it to look good
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We're going to let the gel coat dry and then we can come back over this and we'll fill all these pin holes in with gel coat and silica
10:18
Then we can sand the whole thing one more time with some 400 gris sandpaper
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and we'll shoot it one more time with more gel coat. Next week we'll be installing our outboard engine bracket onto the boat
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so make sure you are subscribed to the channel, smash that like button, and visit us on our website at born againboating.com
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We'd love to hear about your experience with fiberglass faring in the comment section below
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Thank you for hanging out with us today, and we look forward to seeing you next week
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