gkruske
0
- Aug 7, 2009
- 220
As promised....drilled 16 holes in concrete yesterday, and called it good. Looks good, it's a hit with the kids, and no one has broken their face yet.
You can see what I started with. 36 years of dirt, oxidization, and no gel coat. It had seen better days.
[attachment=2:3ar5tu9k]SANY0181.jpg[/attachment:3ar5tu9k]
Powerwashed it like crazy, and ended with a ton of dirt and white, oxidized water coming off. Left it pretty clean, but was chalked badly.
[attachment=1:3ar5tu9k]SANY0183.jpg[/attachment:3ar5tu9k]
The dealer of the gel coat didn't give too many details for prep work, so I had to talk to him multiple times. What should have been done was to swab it down in kerosene first....any of the 'enes' is a slow-evaporating solvent that will degrease just about anything. I used acetone, and all that did was clean the surface and smear the contaminants around. First coat went on with a high-density foam roller, but the leftover contaminants made the gel coat separate in spots. Think oil and water.
Ended up putting on 4 coats, as I had plenty of material. Now, it didn't go on glass-smooth as he led me to believe. This stuff is primarily used on heavily-sanded objects, like boat hulls. I sanded the slide down with 300 grit in between coats, but still wound up with a bit of orange peel. A lot of it sanded down, but again, not perfect. I wasn't shooting for perfection....just a free, usable slide.
Let the 4th coat cure, and threw a coat of wax on it. Put it all back together, and it's FAST.
You can see what I started with. 36 years of dirt, oxidization, and no gel coat. It had seen better days.
[attachment=2:3ar5tu9k]SANY0181.jpg[/attachment:3ar5tu9k]
Powerwashed it like crazy, and ended with a ton of dirt and white, oxidized water coming off. Left it pretty clean, but was chalked badly.
[attachment=1:3ar5tu9k]SANY0183.jpg[/attachment:3ar5tu9k]
The dealer of the gel coat didn't give too many details for prep work, so I had to talk to him multiple times. What should have been done was to swab it down in kerosene first....any of the 'enes' is a slow-evaporating solvent that will degrease just about anything. I used acetone, and all that did was clean the surface and smear the contaminants around. First coat went on with a high-density foam roller, but the leftover contaminants made the gel coat separate in spots. Think oil and water.
Ended up putting on 4 coats, as I had plenty of material. Now, it didn't go on glass-smooth as he led me to believe. This stuff is primarily used on heavily-sanded objects, like boat hulls. I sanded the slide down with 300 grit in between coats, but still wound up with a bit of orange peel. A lot of it sanded down, but again, not perfect. I wasn't shooting for perfection....just a free, usable slide.
Let the 4th coat cure, and threw a coat of wax on it. Put it all back together, and it's FAST.