Older glass glider refinishing question

Group,

I am considering the purchase of an older glass bird in my local area. It has sat for quite a while and the finish is not the best. Specifically, someone shot Imron over the original gelcoat at some point in the past. (rather than take it down and refinish it correctly.) The Imron is now lifting/flaking in a few areas. (mostly the wing tips/upper surfaces)

Obviously one option would be to completely refinish the glider in gelcoat. I doubt the glider is worth putting 15K worth of gelcoat on though.

I figure the next option is to sand it down really well, do all the surface prep, filling and smoothing I could and then shoot more paint on the old gal. My concerns with this option is just how well I could expect the paint to hold up or look good over the gel coat.

Third option....sand her down and fly her UGLY. I could put a bag over my head everytime I pulled her out and waited in the tow line. Of course this option costs nothing and I think it would be a perfectly flyable ship with a well sanded gelcoat and showing her age. Kinda like going to prom with your mother.

Any thoughts, ideas or opinions? (About the glider not prom or mother.)

Many thanks,

You don't say what the glider is, Slingsby Vegas are painted with acrylic as standard.

Peter S

I don't know how bad the finish is on your prospective purchase but the best advice may be, 'ignore the finish and fly it the way it is.' The advice I'm getting is that it won't hurt anything if you keep it dry and protected from UV. Others may giggle at your ugly glider but you will be enjoying the performance for a LOT less money.

The gel-coat on my Nimbus 2C is probably worse the glider that you are looking at but it flies fine. I had the chance to fly in close with another beautifully finished Nimbus 2 for a couple of hours and any difference was undetectable. I may still want to re-finish it but improving the performance alone doesn't seem a good enough reason to do so.

Following up on the re-finish ideas, I'm thinking of stripping the old gel-coat myself as JJ suggests but let an expert do the rest of the job. Anyone have thoughts on that? How much money can you save?

Bill Daniels

Bill,

I am leaning towards sanding off the old paint to get it reasonably smooth and flying it UGLY. I can always paint or refinish it next winter after getting a season under my belt.

Or maybe do it progressivley: One wing this year, do the other one next year. It will look a bit odd with one beautiful wing and one ... not so good.

Or do just the elevator and see how it goes, so you can judge the amount of time better!