Cook Composites Gel Coat

[JohnV8r]

It's my understanding that Cook Composites supplied the gel coat to Bertram during the B31 production years. Does anyone know if they had a specific formula or color call out they referred to?

[Pete Fallon]

JohnV8er,
The gel coat that Bertram used was made by U.S. Composites, I think Cooks took them over in the 1980's, the Cooks Armor Coat Composites Gel Coat is the most expensive on the market, I think it was Oyster White or possibility Matterhorn White.

I know that when I had my 1961 31 Express re-gel coated, it was stripped to the boat cloth (first layer of glass back then), primed and gel coated with the color that matched Imron #508, that's what the side decks , house sides and house top are sprayed with, a primer of Dura Tec was used to cover the heavy crazing on the side deck, forward deck and house surfaces. The re-gel coated hull sides are Cooks Amor Coat and the side decks, forward deck and cabin top are sprayed with Imron #508 with a non skid added into the final layer. The re-gel coated hull sides and transom still look very, very good and the painted areas have started to peel in the last year or so, because they were just lightly sanded, not down to the under laying glass, a heavy layer of Dura Tec was applied to try and hide the crazed areas. This was all done in 1994 back in Salem Mass and it's been here in Florida since late 1997. The Florida sun does a job on gel coat and paint and if you get 15 years out of it, your doing real good, the lighter the color the longer it will last.

Back in the early 1960's Bertram was spraying the gel coat at 22 to 23 mils thick, they really didn't know how heavy to put the gel coat on with, today most companies will only go 19 to 21 mils. The heavier the application the more crazing your going to get.

I know when we were building the 34' center consoles Cooks said that the light colors would last 10 to 15 years and the darker colors would only go for 8 to 10 before they started to fade out. I hope this helps, the more time you spend in the surface prep the better the paint or gel coat will look and Cooks Armor Coat has the fade retention in the industry. Back in 1999/2001 we were buying Cooks Armor Coat gel coat at $1,600 for a 55 gallon drum(455 pounds) most of the other builders were using general purpose gel coat that was running $800 to $900 a barrel. We were also getting a 5% increase every month in the cost of resin and gel coat. the last barrel we bought was over $2,000 a barrel in early 2001.
Pete Fallon

[JohnV8r]

Thanks Pete!