Finishing Fiberglass... Gelcoat?

[Cam 10+ year member]

I have my sub box done, and finally smoothed out with many hours of sanding and filling. I could paint it gloss black and have it look pretty slick, BUT, the problem is part of it stucks out under the car, where I cut away part of the factory spare tire well. This part gets covered in oil and smegma from my leaky old V8, and Leaky old auto ******, so I need something that will be really chemical resistant and easy to clean. I'm thinking of Gelcoat, but that sh!t is expensive, and I don't have much experience with it so I dunno if I'd get a decent finish or not.

Does anyone have good suggestions on something that would be tough, scratch resistant, stain resistant, chemical resistant, and isn't Gelcoat? or a tutorial on gelcoating stuff?

Thanks!

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[jd_man_90 10+ year member]

could you just use some undercoat, or spray on truck bed liner?

 

[Cam 10+ year member]

I could, I did that before, but I hate undercoat, and I spent a good bit of time getting it smooth. I wanna finish the inside of it too and run a plexi baffle, so I'd like to do inside and out the same way if possible.

 

[Cam 10+ year member]

Bump

 

[jd_man_90 10+ year member]

dupli color's truck bed liner out of a can is very easy to use, i did a home sub box with it and it looks great. although if your going for smooth it's not going to work, it will have texture. but it is much easier to use than undercoating in my experience.

 

[rocky 59 5,000+ posts]

when i worked in a boat yard i had a simillar idea about gel coat but i asked the head fiberglass guy of 22 years ?'s about it and had secound thoughts.

1.the gel coat when not done right has to be sanded and buff the F ou of to get smooth

2. the clear is a big huge pain in the A to put on.

3. if you dont use the right fiberglass(or even not thick enuff glass and bondo) it will eat right thourgh it.

4. it chips very very easy. why do you think boat manf. use white primer and bondo //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

just my .02 cents

 

[saywhat? 5,000+ posts]

u cut your floor out? pics?

 

[Cam 10+ year member]

u cut your floor out? pics?

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Bed liner is going to be more durable than gel coat by a long shot . And just for the record , boat builders don't paint gel coat onto the boat . They paint the boat onto the gel coat //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif First thing into the hull mould is gel coat, then comes the rest of the boat //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Cam 10+ year member]

Food for thought I guess. Thanks guys. I think I'll do bedliner or something similar on the bottom part of it, but I'd still like a nice glossy finish for the inside of the box

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Inside sure , go for it . White gel coat will reflect light great . //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif