painting the counter top

[Paula D.]

Hello,
The counter top in my Boler ('Bubba') is all marked up. It looks like someone has balanced cigarettes here and there and it's left burn marks. Also there is a chip near the front. The top is part of the all-in-one piece that holds the fridge, stove and sink. I think it's made of fibreglass. I'd like to paint it and am wondering if this is possible.
Any suggestions would be welcome,
Paula

PS Hello to all my new friends from the Eggstravaganza Bolerama ! (wasn't that fun ?)

[John & Sandy M]

Paula; a picture would be helpful. I would think you could paint but, if possible, a formica type covering would be much more attractive and durable.

[Barbara Gardin]

Hi Paula,

It was nice to meet you at Emily. I painted the entire interior with Melamine paint, cupboards, benches, ensolite and countertop. I lightly scuff sanded the countertop but nothing else, used no primer only oil based melamine with a small foam roller and a little brush for tight areas. It was done four years ago and you saw it still looks like new.

[Roy Massen]

Paula D

I have read here that others have painted successfully, You could patch with a little bondo type filler first. (you might be able to polish/sand out the stains with some 1000 grit wet dry paper if the gelcoat is thick enough in that area?)

But I choose to stay with gelcoat (the top layer of fiberglass) for my repairs since it is much more durable as a counter top - hot pots etc... Takes more work / different tools but worth it in the long run for me.

[Paula D.]

Paula D

I have read here that others have painted successfully, You could patch with a little bondo type filler first. (you might be able to polish/sand out the stains with some 1000 grit wet dry paper if the gelcoat is thick enough in that area?)

But I choose to stay with gelcoat (the top layer of fiberglass) for my repairs since it is much more durable as a counter top - hot pots etc... Takes more work / different tools but worth it in the long run for me.

Thanks for the suggestion, Roy.
So If I try sanding the countertop as you suggest, then use bondo for the chip, can I buy some gelcoat and 'repaint' the top with that ?
You say it 'takes more work'. could you speak to that ? Does working with gelcoat require a great deal of skill ? Is it something I could try to do myself or should I be looking for someone with fibreglass experience ?

Paula

[Lizbeth]

Here's what I did;
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...topic=13173&hl=

My had cigerette burns on it too among other nasties.

[Andrea Swan]

Hi Paula,

We re-painted our countertop, closet, cabintes and benches in a melamine paint as well. We also had a few holes, nicks, scratches and things we needed to repair on the cupboards and countertop, so we filled those with bondo, let it dry, and then sanded the heck out of it. We painted using a foam roller. It's not as shiny as it used to be, but it looks really good.

If you want, I can send you some after pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like.

Hope this helps,
Andrea

PS. You are from Bruce County too? I grew up in Port Elgin!

[Roy Massen]

Paula D

>So If I try sanding the countertop as you suggest,

You could try just the 1000 paper wet as a polishing tool that will take just a little of the gelcoat off and hopefully the burns are not too deep. For just a small chip and maybe deeper burns there are gelcoat repair kits, like those made by Evercoat, where you can mix very small amounts of a thicker gelcoat (more like a paste) using the colors that they supply to get a match to your own that can be applied with popsicle sticks and then sanded and polished to blend in. I suggest giving them a long air cure time to get hard before sanding and polishing..

As for the rest of the counter top/cabinet there are gelcoat restoration products out there or maybe a very light use of the #1000 paper to polish it up before a good waxing would restore what you have. That would be alot easier than trying to re-gelcoat the whole thing.

You might check this link to my post on the Bolerama about spraying gelcoat. It is a much bigger job that I recommend researching before starting.





I went this route because I wanted to keep as much of the look of my origingal Boler as possible,

[Loren G. Hedahl]

Mine was as bad or worse, since a previous owner had drilled holes for clips to hold a microwave in place.

I bought a piece of plastic laminate (Formica) and glued it right on top with polyurethane glue.