I’m rehabilitating FS #1632 and working on the bottom. The plan is to take off the ablative bottom paint, sand to gell-coat, fair, apply Interprotect for a barrier coat and repaint. I did this several years ago with an FJ of similar vintage, so while no expert I understand the basics. (In that case, a turquoise boat with worn gel coat was overcoated with yellow oil house paint.)
The detective work comes in with the sanding to gell coat.
Pictures:
https://goo.gl/photos/r4gWuRzXA6Zw85kF9
The deck and cove stripe at least of this early 1970s Douglas Scot appears to be the classic turquoise/light blue of the era. Below the ablative bottom paint is a coating of white; I THOUGHT that was another layer of old bottom paint, judging from the square flaking in sections. But where I started to sand below the white, and upon closer inspection, where the next laye ris revealed via sanding in scrapes and gouges, I’m not able to discern gell-coat.
1.) From other FS folks, is it likely that the bottom gell-coat is a different color from the cove stripe?
2.) Has anyone seen gell coat flaking off in squares (similar to old, lead house paint)?
3.) Assuming the while is gel-coat AND it’s in bad shape at points, would you sand it all off and put a barrier coat or only remove it in questionable areas, then repair by fairing?
Thanks for any advice.
https://goo.gl/photos/r4gWuRzXA6Zw85kF9