Hey, I'm certainly no expert, BDA, but I do find experimenting with this stuff interesting and fibreglass is such a forgiving medium. If we look around at the number of different methods people use, the vast majority of them seem to work just fine.
I've come full circle on some things and outright abandoned others.
I must say I'm not a believer in the gel coat theory. Some insist it's there and others point to a lineup of grey bodies outside the factory and say that proves it.
I've been down to that grey layer on a number of bodies and it sure doesn't sand like gel coat. Gel coat is as hard as a rock and the grey stuff sands like paint.
I doubt it matters much who is right or wrong on the gel coat score because if you've got a crack, you'll be grinding into the laminate in any case. I also think we've been somewhat led up the garden path re gel coat. Historically, most of the fibreglass repair advice has come from the boating people. Gel coat is important for boats as they potentially sit in water all day long.
How many actual gel coat issues have we seen over the years on Lotus cars? Any?
I reckon it's a bit like the notion that a 336 gearbox can only take 150HP. Anyone ever seen a broken 336 gearbox?
Anyway, I've probably gone slightly fundamentalist (radicalised?) on the whole gel coat thing.
If we accept that veil provides near zero reinforcement value, then adding more resin (or gel coat) makes the whole laminate weaker as a structure and consequently, more prone to cracking. The OEM laminate is quite thin to begin with.
In practice, though, we don't see veiled panels failing all over the place either. As I say . . a very forgiving medium.
Somewhere along the line I intend to experiment with veil using spray polyester (Slick Sand or the like) instead of polyester resin and applied with a brush. I can't see why it wouldn't work and kill a few birds with one stone.
The main advantage I see is the ease of blocking and you're automatically ready for further coats of spray polyester. Also eliminates the resident wax issue.
Am I mad? Did I miss something?
Thoughts anyone?
My tip for newbies contemplating any of this is to have some cheap baby powder (talc) at the ready. Inevitably when laminating fibreglass, you'll get resin on your disposable gloves from fiddling with wet pieces.
If you tip some talc into your hands and rub them together, the talc will soak up the resin and your hands are effectively dry again. Then, you can carry on without making any more mess and pulling sticky threads everywhere.
