Old casting deck questions

[Cathooker]

On my old 1860 the surface layer of the casting deck's finish is flaking off revealing the bare fiberglass. Did this model have gelcoat on it or is it some other kind of finish? What steps would I need to take to refinish the entire deck? No where else on the boat is this happening. The boat has been sheltered it's entire life except for the times we have had her out in the water. Thanks in advance.
Alan

[Dave]

Cathooker, have you examined a full thickness of the flaked off finish? I removed a piece of deck material on my DLV a while back and it consisted of fiberglass, what looked like about 1/16" of white gelcoat, and topped with the standard CS speckled deck paint.

Here's a picture of the piece of deck, laid upside down on my shop belt sander. I'm removing the thin layer of paint before I re-install the piece to the deck. Look where the arrow points and you can see the white layer of gelcoat at the bottom, next to the sandpaper.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/ConsoleSeatMoveApr08048crop1.jpg


Here, with the piece turned right side up, (for inspection) you can see the layer of paint that is in the process of being sanded off the surface of the solid white gelcoat.
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc188/djerhart/ConsoleSeatMoveApr08052crop.jpg

You can purchase both the white gelcoat and the deck paint from Carolina Skiff, in quantities as little as a pint, but you must go through a dealer. If it's just the paint flaking, hit it good with a wire brush, sand it with a belt or rotary sander (60, then 100 grit) until you get all loose material removed. Clean all surfaces carefully, before and after sanding, to remove any contaminates, then brush or roll on two or three coats of paint, following CS's recommended prep and dry times between coats.

If there is a gelcoat between glass and paint, and the gelcoat "popped" loose, it may have been because of the deck flexing under load - basically walking on it over these years. This would be a likely scenario if the glass and gelcoat didn't bond tight enough to each other during initial application. for one or more of several reasons. If that's the case, you may need to grind the surface down to the fiberglass and apply a coating of about 1/16" before topping it with paint.

In any case, you'll have to getter down to a tight and solid surface, prep the surface correctly, (clean, and sanded to leave a sufficiently heavy scratch pattern to allow the finish (gelcoat or paint) to "bite" the surface) in order to insure proper adhesion of the coating(s).

Let us know how it goes.

Dave

[Cathooker]

Thanks Dave. I do believe it is the gelcoat coming off. I'm going to re-do the deck as soon as deer season is over.

[SpurHunter]

Great information! I will reference this info when rebuilding my front deck as well. Thanks Sarge!*yay*