On Jan 6, 9:13 am, wrote:
Bill, LB,

If I had to do it all over again, I'd use polyurethane. Gelcoat is
such a long process that I only got one wing, tail and part of the
fuselage done, but really it's the weight of the gelcoat that's so
discouraging. Poly-u is much lighter. Gary Kemp did his N3 in poly-u.
Definitely the way to go with all the usual cautions about spraying,
etc. Keep in mind gelcoat has it's own health problems with the
catalyst MEKP able to cause instant blindness. It's also expensive and
takes a while to get all the clever tricks learned.

Stripping and varnishing an old wooden boat seems so much easier ;-)

Jim

On Jan 6, 7:56 am, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:

I'm looking at the same thing you are. I've been studying the options for a
couple of years.
I've decided that gelcoat is the better option for me. Take a look at Jim
Phoenix's site where he refinishes a Nimbus 3.http://www.jimphoenix.com/

I would second Jim's recommendation. I did the outer panels of my
Nimbus 2 a few years ago and I did it in PU. It is not that bad a
process. The nice thing is most body shops are set up to handle PU
paints. Do all the prep work yourself and then hire a local shop to
shoot the last coat of primer and paint. The work in PU is upfront,
it needs to be finished to final smoothness and shape before the
painting. The nice thing is once done you will likely never do it
again if you take care of the glider.

Search for sites that talk about finishing homebuilt aircraft like
Long-ez's, etc.

Find a good AI to work with from the start. Make sure you can do the
mass balance checks on control surfaces. I would recommended doing a
before and after as a check rather than just the after mass balance
weights.