Fiberglass Gelcoat Repair

Does anyone know someone who can re-gelcoat a Fastback tail section. Mine is pretty spider webbed and I don't want to paint it. Thanks.

From my limited experience and what I have read, it is better to paint. Gelcoat will only give a good tough finish when it is used as the first coat in a moulded part. It will not flow correctly if painted on and unless it is thinned it can't be sprayed on which diminishes its properties.

Jean

Yep, Bondo it or better yet JBWeld it then slick down and paint over, period end of worry - except still a risky costly motorcycle habit with potential to explode on impact of course. Low temp JBW fine for this and sets up good in a day or so vs almost a week for hi temp over strong type.

if you decide on Gelcoat - check with any local boat repair shops, they re-gel hulls all the time, and probably have some repairs you could look at to assess quality.
If not, maybe a Corvette body shop, or anyone else into fibreglass repairs?

I have done quite a bit of gelcoat repair on boat hulls, decks, and interiors. If I had your issues (spiider web cracking) on the tailpiece on my bike, I don't think I would repair it with gelcoat. Perhaps if there was a very small area, then yes. But on the spider web cracks, you will need to sand most of the gelcoat down to the bottom level of the cracks, which means your fairing you will have very little gelcoat left. And then things get more complicated. As per the earlier post, it is very difficult to spray, and if you spray it, it takes a fair amount of sanding and polishing to get the gloss up. It is also much harder to colour match gelcoat than it is to colour match paint. In boats, there are reasons for regelcoating, such as scratches can be filled and sanded out. And on a boat once you start painting, you are in a cycle of repainting every 10 years or so. Not so on a bike stored inside. I would much rather regelcoat a boat than paint it. But on a motorcycle tank or tailpiece, paint is the way to go.

Stephen Hill
Victoria, BC

Thanks for the input guys. I was trying to keep the bike as original as I can. I'll take the piece to my paint guy and see what he recommends.