J/35 does it make sense that my gel coat is red?

Tyson0317

Member
292
1
Seattle
I am putting new bottom paint on my 1989 J/35. A couple of years ago a professional boatyard charged me to do this job, and completely screwed it up. He can clearly see that in the areas where they had the supporting pads, the paint failed utterly. Similar thing happened on my keel.

Pettit Paints He's telling me that I need to take off everything down to gel coat in the affected areas. For some reason I was expecting it to be white. But there is red layer underneath the black paint and the gray primer. I am pretty sure that it is my gel coat, but for some reason the color gives me doubt.

I noticed before that in places where my toe rail shackles smacked against the hull, under the white paint was red. I always assumed that the boat was simply painted right in the past, but now biting into this with a 60 grid sand pad it seems thicker than paint... So that's the gel coat, right??

PXL_20210626_160903896.jpg

 

El Borracho

Barkeeper’s Friend
7,284
3,211
Pacific Rim
Why not red gelcoat? Could be. Likely need barrier job after such sanding, right? Those failures at the pads are what happens when cheap-ass low-bid hack yards do the bottom job. Usually not enough cure time ... especially in cool west coast climates. The extra lay days for proper cure are recouped in greatly extended time between hauls.

 

Tyson0317

Member
292
1
Seattle
Jboats doesn't answer emails for owners of older boats. I attempted to contact them three times when I first got the boat, stating that I had a few general questions. They never answered. I then sent an email from a different address to the same email address stating that I was interested in a new boat I got a reply within minutes.

They just don't give a damn.

Since I am planning to redo the sides above the water line as well, I hit that with a sander and got the same red. I am 99% convinced now that my boat was originally red. I guess it makes sense! If you scrape something bad enough it's much easier to spot that way.

 

lartaunt

Super Anarchist
Jboats doesn't answer emails for owners of older boats. I attempted to contact them three times when I first got the boat, stating that I had a few general questions. They never answered. I then sent an email from a different address to the same email address stating that I was interested in a new boat I got a reply within minutes.

They just don't give a damn.

Since I am planning to redo the sides above the water line as well, I hit that with a sander and got the same red. I am 99% convinced now that my boat was originally red. I guess it makes sense! If you scrape something bad enough it's much easier to spot that way.
Just call them.  Very helpful on the phone.  

 

Squalamax

Super Anarchist
2,582
99
Just call them.  Very helpful on the phone.  


Jboats doesn't answer emails for owners of older boats. I attempted to contact them three times when I first got the boat, stating that I had a few general questions. They never answered. I then sent an email from a different address to the same email address stating that I was interested in a new boat I got a reply within minutes.

They just don't give a damn.

Since I am planning to redo the sides above the water line as well, I hit that with a sander and got the same red. I am 99% convinced now that my boat was originally red. I guess it makes sense! If you scrape something bad enough it's much easier to spot that way.
Not my experience at all with the Johnstones. I needed a lines drawing for my 38 year old J29 and they emailed it right over.(this was a few years ago) 

 

Slick470

Super Anarchist
2,089
331
Virginia
Not my experience at all with the Johnstones. I needed a lines drawing for my 38 year old J29 and they emailed it right over.(this was a few years ago) 
Likewise, and also a few years back. I had a few questions on the J36 and after a couple emails back and forth with someone they put me in touch with Alan Johnstone, who did his best to answer my questions and he made sure they sent me scans of the brochures they had. 

 
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