Gelcoat care

On Wednesday, October 30, 2013 10:59:24 AM UTC-7, dogger wrote:
Searching the archives I found a long 2003 RAS thread about Gelcoat. It was

a good discussion involving several top people.

What I got out of it was, there is not much a owner can do about Gelcoat

life. Some real experts advise not to wax as it may keep any water vapor [

? ] trapped in the Gelcoat and that could cause problems. They say you

want it to be able to breathe to some extent.

Other experts swear waxing is good for the surface and waxing will

discourage yellowing and fading.

Why sailboats look good after many years seem to come from the fact that

when they come out of the mold they are not worked on further, the

Gelcoat surface is left intact, while gliders come out of the molds and

there is a lot of work to be done to them, aggressive sanding to the

Gelcoat seems to open minute cracks that can propagate, it seems, says the

experts.

Me? I'm going to continue to wax. Makes me feel good. I like the smell.

Makes me feel like I'm trying to make a effort to keep the refinish man

away for as long as possible.



Boats survive better in harsher conditions because they use better gelcoat than the German sailplanes do. This has mostly to do with certification requirements for anything "new". Tends to reduce innovation in that area. It's such a pity to pay top dollar for new glider with a finish that we all know won't last more than 15 years.
Craig