Westy Pop Top

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 4:38 pm

Any suggestions on what to use to breathe new life into a pop top? Mine is worn through to the fiber glass in a few spots, and has been re painted by the previous owner. My plan is to sand the rough spots, glazing putty the bare spots, and scratches back to smooth, prime and paint white. Anything wrong with this plan?

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:17 pm

Only real thing I can think of for your poptop fiberglass is that it's a very porous fiberglass..

I'd want it to be a flat color to hide the issues.

My other thought would be that the paint and materials would have to be flexible.

What exact materials would you want to use?

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 5:36 pm

not sure, thats why I'm asking, the paint thats been rolled on is all cracked, and flaking (Maybe because its not flexible?) and it looks like crap, so I want to get it looking better. Start with the worst looking parts, you know? I used to paint houses professionally, and was thinking of rolling it with a low nap roller, just to eliminate the need to remove then entire Westy top, save myself a little work.

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:53 am

couple of thoughts

1-it may be flaking due to the last worker not removing it and prepping it correctly. As you're aware you need a bonding type primer then a final UV resistant coat that's flexible

2-One of the flexiblity issues may be the current layer may be too thick.. combining this heavy layer with lack of mechanical adhesion may help a failure.

If I remember correctly (been a few years) A westy is gelcoat not painted from the factory -

To better help you, we may need to see photos of your current wear or failure.

dumb quesiton to the smarter folks - anyone know what sheen (shininess) they arrived from the dealer with?

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:30 pm

I'll post some pics as soon as she gets back from the shop, buyt heres a dumb question, what exactly IS gel coat? How does it differ from paint, and how does one apply it?

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 1:36 pm

GelCoat is a slippery plastic polymer that's applied to the mold before fiberglass is applied... think of it as plastic.

Piper · Post by **Piper** » Fri May 01, 2009 3:44 pm

So could it be re applied to fiberglass say years later? Say with a brush, or roller?