Looking at aquiring a 1960 Marc baroda (listed in the internet finds page), but with serious Gel coat issues on top deck (please see pics below). Large areas of the deck are badly cracked - presumably from long periods of exposure to the weather. After searching on google for a couple of hours, I can find plenty on small gel coat repairs, and I have come to the conclusion that this would be a case of stripping the gel coat completely off. I can't find much on how to most effectively do this. My main concern is if I proceeded down this route, I suspect that the areas where the gel coat is in tact and also the harder to reach / contoured areas will be very awkward to remove the gel coat. So any advice with reagrds to the following questions would be greatly appreciated;
1) Am I mad for even contemplating this (really like the boat and its charactor - but wasn't really wanting to spend 10's /100's of hours sanding and filling..
2) Would it be best to strip all of the gel coat off or just the badly effected areas and then some how blend the stripped areas into the unstripped areas
3) Any techniques / tools recommended for stripping of both strong and weak gel coat
Really would be good to get the advice of someone who has done this before - thanks alot
I think I would get it striped and the gelcoat resprayed by a pro, you can get a tool called a gelplane http://www.gelplane.co.uk/ they are not cheep and tricky to use so you would save time and money getting it done. I guess it's like any old boat the more you pay for it the less work the less you pay the more work All that matters is what it's worth to you and how you want the finnish to look you could just sand it fill the cracks and paint it but would you be happy with it
Don't even think about it..!! It will cost you many thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours.....a Gel plane will take the gel coat off O.K. but is the laminate under the gelcoat sound? then you will have to rebuild the surface and fashion all the moulded details, then you will have to find someone to spray on the gelcoat, then cut it back and polish it up, its not like building a car, it is far cheaper and safer, if you have no experience of boats, to go and buy something that works, there are plenty of boats out there that are "on the button" and are ready to use and "SAFE" . Old boats are not like old cars, you don't have it M.O.T'd every year to see if its seaworthy , and you can't get out and walk if it brakes down ..!!. Buy something that is ready to go,and get some experience, then think about restoring something .
Last edited by se7en on Sun May 13, 2012 7:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
se7en wrote:Don't even think about it..!! It will cost you many thousands of pounds and hundreds of hours.....a Gel plane will take the gel coat off O.K. but is the laminate under the gelcoat sound? then you will have to rebuild the surface and fashion all the moulded details, then you will have to find someone to spray on the gelcoat, then cut it back and polish it up, its not like building a car, it is far cheaper and safer, it you have no experience of boats, to go and buy something that works, there are plenty of boats out there that are "on the button" and are ready to use and "SAFE" . Old boats are not like old cars, you don't have it M.O.T'd every year to see if its seaworthy , and you can't get out and walk , if it brakes down ..!!, buy something that is ready to go,and get some experience, then think about restoring something .
Agreed. The boat could be nice but there is 100's of hours & shedloads of cash required there. Unless you have all the time in the world & plenty of money you won't be boating this year & probably not next year either. Apart from the deck it will almost certainly need a transom & floor rebuild which is major in itself.
Mercs are like women, no 2 are exactly alike. That's what testing is about. In general it is safer to test motors and props than women!
I got a ballpark quote for re-gelling my 14ft boat, the price started at £2000 for a basic job. This one looks a lot more challenging and thus expensive.
Have a chat to http://www.jagodevelopments.com/ I used them to polish my hull and deck in the end, they made a cracking job of it so I can vouch for their quality. However like the previous responses i feel this is probably too far gone and needs a fair amount of structural stabalisation to the underlying glass before thinking about the finish.
Although it would be good to save this boat it looks to need a hell of a lot of work, not ideal as an introduction to a love of boating more an antidote
All that matters is what it's worth to you and how you want the finnish to look you could just sand it fill the cracks and paint it but would you be happy with it 
