2001 Pantera III finish discoloration

Silver shows the discoloration the absolute worst, obviously it has more influence by color change than say a brown would. If your comparing be sure you compare same colors. The black flake on some obviously will Not show much yellowing either. They all yellow to some degree and no doubt the older gelcoat was better. This we have said dozens if not hundreds of times. Removing a fitting that covered the gel on any brand will show a clearer finish hidden beneath it. In the 2000 range there was a bad gel coat and some from 1998 through to 2000 production had issues. It was a raw material product and odds are slim thugh possible you have one of the last. There is nothing that can be done to those, however you can have a glass shop see if they can polish us out and refinish it with sandpaper, polish and wax.

This is somewhat Pre EPA issues. We dont know that this particular boat has a product issue and suspect the silver simply shows yellowing worse than some colors. It is also effected more by a thicker clear coat on the decks than competitive brands. There was a product issue in 1998 through 2000 on a BYK produced air release agent. Unfortunately the builder of gelcoat was Neste which left the USA business structure and hung the builders in the process. Several boat manufacturers got in the Neste debacle. It assisted in the demise of some weaker companies.

You could provide a couple of digital pictures to Service and get an opinion from them. This is lengthy though we want you to understand the opinion to some degree. We do realize it is an opinion, though one that is somewhat informed on raw components in your boat and most boats.Not being critical of boat dealerships in this statement, no matter what brand they represent or who they are, there is absolutely no way any dealership we know of would have knowledge if it were a gelcoat break down, what caused it or how it occurred, or what this situation is. Dealerships do work on engines, brakes, trolling motors, pumps and all sorts of mechanical items. No dealership we know of presently has an ability to diagnose fiberglass or gelcoat. These components you must have much more knowledge on than they have an ability to possess. There are a very few that could tell you if it looked like a boat described above from Neste days. Though the number of those remaining today with that experience from 15 to 20 years ago is limited. Just seeing one or two boats from that era come through a dealership would not give you enough knowledge. There are too many variables and clear gel coat is complex. We also feel the same way about most fiberglass repair shops, there are very few with enough production knowledge to diagnose what you have. Unless they have spent lots of time on the aspects of a production floor in some variation and volume. This would include knowledge in raw materials selection and testing, understanding variations of catalysts, ingredients of the gelcoats, weather effects on the components both during and after production, reactions of resin and gelcoat combinations in a laminate and much more. That would include knowledge of variations in application techniques only those from almost 30 years ago would have. As many things that cause issues have not been experienced with newer situations and applications by younger generations. Todays equipment, materials, and application processes have changed for most builders. Inside BCB there are a few persons who could touch this and have a reasonably accurate concept as to what happened, and a few who would know what failed though not why. In all present bass boat, yes ALL, manufacturers we feel there may be 9 or 10 individuals able to identify accurately, and perhaps another 10 who would have some idea, as to what has happened in almost all gelcoat variables. Eight ( 8 ) to twelve (12) of those 20 total persons exist in North Arkansas. Obviously this is now the highest volume of bass boat production where clear gels and flake are used. There are perhaps another 15 – 20 industry persons able to identify the issues with reasonable accuracy. Its a niche industry with limited gross production experience.Inside the business with clear gelcoats there are not even many inside the gelcoat production, tech and sales segments of gelcoat companies that have that historical depth of knowledge. Many of todays techs could identify that something happened, though not what. Those we think would know most issues today as you may have, have mostly retired from this industry and are between mid 60s and 80s in age. We just dont see these issues much today like we did in the 1970s and 80s. Which is what helped to identify what we saw in the late 90s that stumped younger techs. Yes, to some degree a consortium of the old dawgs helped to figure it out, some of those were long retired then and are gone today. Thats a longer story.Shoot a pic for Service and they will get someone to look at it.Last edited by Bass Cat Boats on August 15th, 2013, 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.