Hk cultured marble gel coat

[wheatgerm]

Does anyone know anything about this product? I have a friend that will spray my plywood tank while he is spraying gelcoat ti make his marbled sheets. He informed me its not "marine grade" although its the same basic product. He said it would work fine but may possibly corrode after 5 years or so.. just wondering if any of you fiberglass/ epoxy guys have an opinion thanks

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[CJH]

Does anyone know anything about this product? I have a friend that will spray my plywood tank while he is spraying gelcoat ti make his marbled sheets. He informed me its not "marine grade" although its the same basic product. He said it would work fine but may possibly corrode after 5 years or so.. just wondering if any of you fiberglass/ epoxy guys have an opinion thanks

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How do you plan to use it? As a coating directly on the plywood? Or as a topcoat over resin/fiberglass?

If for the former, I would recommend a building a test box for him to spray. Ask him what the smallest box is that he can reasonably spray with his setup. Gelcoat can be sprayed from a variety of spray equipment so this is hard to guess what sized box he can fit his gun into and still maintain the proper distances and angles for effective spraying.

Or he may prefer to spray the pieces of plywood flat and then you can just assemble them after they're sprayed. Then you can build the box relatively small but still tall so you can see how it does under pressure.

If it's the latter, I suppose there is not a lot of risk, assuming the gelcoat isn't toxic. Even if it failed to some degree you could probably still go over it with an epoxy gelcoat in the future, unless for some reason epoxy gelcoat won't adhere to the type of gelcoat used in cultured marble. But given that gelcoats are designed to be repairable I don't think this will be a problem.

 

[wheatgerm]

Thanks for the reply. I was going to do a poly resin fiberglass and matting on the tank. Then rough it up and have him spray it. This is also what he suggested to add better support to the gel coat and also as a fail safe incase the gelcoat does fail over time. We did spray a 2 gallon box over a year ago with nothing but gel coat that I believe he keeps full at the shop.


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[CJH]

Thanks for the reply. I was going to do a poly resin fiberglass and matting on the tank. Then rough it up and have him spray it. This is also what he suggested to add better support to the gel coat and also as a fail safe incase the gelcoat does fail over time. We did spray a 2 gallon box over a year ago with nothing but gel coat that I believe he keeps full at the shop.


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Nice. How tall is that two gallon test box? Can you drop a goldfish in there and test for toxicity?

What is your reasoning for wanting to use the gelcoat? For a nicer finished appearance or what?

For the record I think the concerns with toxicity and moisture permeability of polyester are largely overblown. Those are the two main reasons other than appearance why people use gelcoats over polyester on plywood tanks. There are just too many long term polyester only sealed tanks for me to think otherwise.

But if it's free and non-toxic AND applied by a pro then I think the extra build would be nice. Do you know how thick of a coat your friend puts on?

 

[wheatgerm]

I haven't put a fish in it... but im going to get the actual product code tomorrow and call the company to see if the product is inert and what they say is the difference between the kind he uses and the marine grade.
As for my reasoning. I think liquid rubber is alot easier to apply but I don't care for the brown color once it has been under water for a while.
I think the get coat will end in a nice looking finished product and hide any of my lack of experience in fiberglass resins. Things always look better when sprayed...
So are you saying the poly fiberglass resin will be enough to water seal a tank even without the gel coat? If so this is great news
Can I use any fiberglass that I buy from lowest or home depot?

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[CJH]

I think the get coat will end in a nice looking finished product and hide any of my lack of experience in fiberglass resins. Things always look better when sprayed...

So are you saying the poly fiberglass resin will be enough to water seal a tank even without the gel coat? If so this is great news.

Can I use any fiberglass that I buy from lowest or home depot?

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Your friend will know more about this than I do, but I'm pretty sure that the gelcoat will generally come out as nice as what your final fiberglass layers look like. It will cover some slopiness to be sure but much of the underlaying texture will likely show through.

I take it the gelcoats for cultured marble are pigmented? I have seen cultured marble in various stages of development and I though the color was cast into the sheets itself. So I would have assumed the gelcoat was clear. But you know what they say about assumptions.

As far as will polyester "be enough", I can only say that it has been done and it has been done a lot with plywood tanks. I can't say for sure I know of every type of polyester sold today but years ago even the cheapest and least desirable looking polyester resins were used on plywood tanks. But a lot has changed in the last decade when it comes to solvent containing finishes. Even the everyday oil-based polyurethane has changed due to increased VOC regulations.

If I were going to build another plywood tanks I would consider polyester. I've used it on plywood tanks before. Don't really like working with it compared to epoxy but it is an inexpensive way to build up layers of fiberglass reinforcement. I would probably spend a bit more and use a higher quality polyester or vinyl ester but then you have to factor in shipping.

My guess is that if you look at the price of the quart containers sold at the big-box stores you could probably get a higher quality resin by the gallon if you searched around locally - boat shops, automotive supply places, etc. Of course if you only need a quart and don't need the extra then I'm sure you could get the lower quality stuff to work.

 

[wheatgerm]

As for the gelcoat yes it is clear. He is looking into a dye he may be able to add in the spray. If nothing else Im considering painting the fiberglass inbetween coats so the final gel coat will just show the black fiberglass.
As for the fiberglass resin, I guess im confused if I can use the brand I can get at my local auto body store? Its made for cars and boats. I took a picture of the gallon. Do you think it will be a good choice for under the gel coat?


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[xyz12373317]

I used it on the outside of my 500 gallon build. I had a bit left over and painted the interior with the extra. I purchased some epoxy to glass the interior seams. If I did it again I would have used the bondo brand fiberglass for the interior and exterior fiberglassing. Then I would have sanded it with 100 grit paper and then painted over it with epoxy. You will need to mix the resin well. Mix in one container, put it into another and then apply it.

 

[xyz12373317]

Where are you in Utah? That looks like an Ace hardware tag. I am building a 500 in woodland hills if you want to come.check.it out.

 

[wheatgerm]

im in N. Utah if im right isnt woodland hills in the south end of utah county? i have an ace about 3 minutes from my house but i took the pic at checkers..
so from what your saying the bondo brand worked fine? if so then i will be checking tomrrow if the gelcoat is safe to use and i think i will be set