Cracks are bad news, right?

I suspect any reputation regarding Grob gelcoat might have to do with the fact that so many of them are tied out all year long in harsh climates. Interestingly, there was a HUGE difference in the amount of gelcoat damage on my recent Grob refinish project between the SW side (sunny side) and NE side (shady side) of the fuselage. The glider is tied outside with the left side subject to sun pretty much all day, while the right side is not. Sunny side gelcoat was crazed in all directions, while shady side crazing was limited to fine lines in the direction of the finish sanding.

P3

On Monday, July 2, 2012 10:41:14 AM UTC-4, Grider Pirate wrote:
On Jul 2, 5:55*am, Terry Walsh wrote:
"Probably the worst culprit is the
Grob 102/3

Despite all their other reported issues Grob is famous for having one of
the more durable Gel coats Don.

Terry Walsh

At 12:26 02 July 2012, Don Johnstone wrote:





- Show quoted text -

Yup. Grob gelcoat seems to be about the best I've seen. I'm partner
in a Janus C that had gelcoat literally blowing off of the top of the
wing. The bond had failed so completely that I didn't sand the
remaining gelcoat off, I SCRAPED/CHIPPED it off using a pnuematic
scraper (see the terrifying video on YouTube "Removing Failed Gelcoat")
(sorry, I can't provide a link right now). 5 gallons of PCL
PolyPrimer, lots of sanding, and gallons of PPG concept, followed by
more sanding and buffing. If it still looks good in 5 years, I'll
declare victory.