Filling small holes in panel?

I just got word that "vinyl wrapping" has been approved in Europe for many makes and models of gliders.

To cover crazed gel coat...IMHO...not a good choice.

Two reasons. 1080 has an outdoor exposure life of maybe 4 years....so maybe if a glider is kept inside most of the time it would be OK.

Also vinyl wrap gets almost impossible to remove if it is left on for 4 years...
In most automotive used it is sort of semi permanent, removed and replaces periodically.

As for covering the crazing...it won't really...the vinyl take on the shape of the under surface so I am afraid that the crazing will show through somewhat. Also the crazing may continue to get worse under the wrap.

I just did a wrap on my car roof, to cover up blistering and peeling clear coat...BUT I had to wet sand 400 grit and remove all traces of the clear coat before applying the wrap.

Wrapping is not all the inexpensive.

Cookie


On Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 2:13:03 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 9:10:24 PM UTC-8, Cookie wrote:

Then use 3m 1080 vinyl wrap..."anthracite" color carbon fiber...looks great, easy.


Would 1080 vinyl be a good material to cover crazed gelcoat?

On Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 12:57:56 PM UTC-8, Cookie wrote:
I just got word that "vinyl wrapping" has been approved in Europe for many makes and models of gliders.

To cover crazed gel coat...IMHO...not a good choice.

Two reasons. 1080 has an outdoor exposure life of maybe 4 years....so maybe if a glider is kept inside most of the time it would be OK.

Also vinyl wrap gets almost impossible to remove if it is left on for 4 years...
In most automotive used it is sort of semi permanent, removed and replaces periodically.

As for covering the crazing...it won't really...the vinyl take on the shape of the under surface so I am afraid that the crazing will show through somewhat. Also the crazing may continue to get worse under the wrap.

I just did a wrap on my car roof, to cover up blistering and peeling clear coat...BUT I had to wet sand 400 grit and remove all traces of the clear coat before applying the wrap.

Wrapping is not all the inexpensive.

Cookie


My 2003 gelcoated glider is showing first faint signs of gel crazing. It's only out in the sun when I fly it. Seriously, I'd to know if refinishing with vinyl wrap would be a better choice than a $30K refinish in PU. As I understand it, refinish is only for cosmetic reasons. Is there any data that shows older crazed gelcoat reduces performance?

Well, it might make sense to wrap a glider when the glider is new...to protect the gel coat...before it crazes.

We have noticed that when we refinish a glider, that when we peel off the vinyl racing number off the tail fin and rudder, (or remove a painted on number) that the gel coat underneath that portion of the plane, is NOT crazed.

You would have to budget changing out the vinyl wrap every 4 years. vs painting the glider every 10 or whatever. You must remove the wrap periodically or else it does not come off easily after 5 or more years.

Guys who buy Ferrari's of Lambos, or Ford GT's type of cars often have clear vinyl applied to protect the factor original paint...but in the collector car world, original paint is a real value thing.....more then offsets the cost of a wrap job every 4 years.


Cookie




On Monday, December 9, 2019 at 10:56:59 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 12:57:56 PM UTC-8, Cookie wrote:
I just got word that "vinyl wrapping" has been approved in Europe for many makes and models of gliders.

To cover crazed gel coat...IMHO...not a good choice.

Two reasons. 1080 has an outdoor exposure life of maybe 4 years....so maybe if a glider is kept inside most of the time it would be OK.

Also vinyl wrap gets almost impossible to remove if it is left on for 4 years...
In most automotive used it is sort of semi permanent, removed and replaces periodically.

As for covering the crazing...it won't really...the vinyl take on the shape of the under surface so I am afraid that the crazing will show through somewhat. Also the crazing may continue to get worse under the wrap.

I just did a wrap on my car roof, to cover up blistering and peeling clear coat...BUT I had to wet sand 400 grit and remove all traces of the clear coat before applying the wrap.

Wrapping is not all the inexpensive.

Cookie


My 2003 gelcoated glider is showing first faint signs of gel crazing. It's only out in the sun when I fly it. Seriously, I'd to know if refinishing with vinyl wrap would be a better choice than a $30K refinish in PU. As I understand it, refinish is only for cosmetic reasons. Is there any data that shows older crazed gelcoat reduces performance?

Vinyl wrapping a glider was addressed in a previous thread. See below for a glider pilot and wrap installer's take on the concept:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!ms...E/l4J4LirzAwAJ

Cookie wrote on 12/9/2019 8:58 PM:
Well, it might make sense to wrap a glider when the glider is new...to protect
the gel coat...before it crazes.

We have noticed that when we refinish a glider, that when we peel off the vinyl
racing number off the tail fin and rudder, (or remove a painted on number) that
the gel coat underneath that portion of the plane, is NOT crazed.

You would have to budget changing out the vinyl wrap every 4 years. vs painting
the glider every 10 or whatever. You must remove the wrap periodically or else
it does not come off easily after 5 or more years.

Guys who buy Ferrari's of Lambos, or Ford GT's type of cars often have clear
vinyl applied to protect the factor original paint...but in the collector car
world, original paint is a real value thing.....more then offsets the cost of a
wrap job every 4 years.

If the glider is painted with polyurethane or similar, it will not have to be
repainted "every 10 or whatever". Shucks, my gel coat is in good condition, with
minor crazing along portions of the leading edge, after 4000 flight hours and 25
years. No one would paint with poly without the expectation it will last 30+ years.

Crazing often seems to occur first on the wing leading edge. Has anyone ever
refinished just the leading edge of glider, whether it's with gel coat or PU? That
would be a lot cheaper than doing the entire glider.

On Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 9:20:39 AM UTC-5, Eric Greenwell wrote:
Cookie wrote on 12/9/2019 8:58 PM:
Well, it might make sense to wrap a glider when the glider is new...to protect
the gel coat...before it crazes.

We have noticed that when we refinish a glider, that when we peel off the vinyl
racing number off the tail fin and rudder, (or remove a painted on number) that
the gel coat underneath that portion of the plane, is NOT crazed.

You would have to budget changing out the vinyl wrap every 4 years. vs painting
the glider every 10 or whatever. You must remove the wrap periodically or else
it does not come off easily after 5 or more years.

Guys who buy Ferrari's of Lambos, or Ford GT's type of cars often have clear
vinyl applied to protect the factor original paint...but in the collector car
world, original paint is a real value thing.....more then offsets the cost of a
wrap job every 4 years.

If the glider is painted with polyurethane or similar, it will not have to be
repainted "every 10 or whatever". Shucks, my gel coat is in good condition, with
minor crazing along portions of the leading edge, after 4000 flight hours and 25
years. No one would paint with poly without the expectation it will last 30+ years.

Crazing often seems to occur first on the wing leading edge. Has anyone ever
refinished just the leading edge of glider, whether it's with gel coat or PU? That
would be a lot cheaper than doing the entire glider.

I've done lots of spot repairs to local crazing. I'm sure others have done the same. This happens wherever final finishing is done at the factory on joints. Leading edges, wing roots, fuselage center joints. canopy frame edges.
Result
No crazing showing
Repairs don't match color
Improved appearance for a while.
Can be a useful short term improvement to delay refinishing.
UH

As for performance denegration by minor crazing, dont spend you time worrying about it. One bad mental decision on course is about all it amounts to. Your dealing mostly with a cosmetic issue.