Fiberglass Bed cover shows fibers. How to fix?

[98kotart]

Hey everyone, I've had this bed cover for awhile now and the guy that painted it did a ****ty job, I am planning to get it redone but I am going to prep it myself. I also had a thought about carbon fiber stripes but I wanted to see what you guys thought and hopefully get some input. Should I strip it and fill it with more resin then sand and prep that way? if I do this I think it might be just as easy to lay carbon fiber at the same time if I go this way. If anyone has done this before, please post pictures/give me some input. Thanks a lot.
You can see the fiber on the bed cover showing through the paint.http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/98kotart/100_0024.jpg

[almcbri]

I have a fiberglass cover on my truck. Most of the ones I have seen you can see the fiberglass/resin, especially with certain colors they tend to show up more.
I would think to remove it would be to block it down smooth and apply a skim coat of body filler,sand, then shoot it with a sprayable filler (Z-chrome or something comparible), then 2k primer, sand, wet sand, shoot with color/clear.

[98kotart]

These fibers are really bad up close. other fiberglass bed covers that i've seen you can see them a little bit but this is ridiculous. I wasnt sure if laying another layer of resin would help because i remember one my friends had this same cover and it started to bubble and pull up the paint when there was a pretty heavy layer of filler on there(i know it doesn't need that much filler but mainly the paint bubbled up). That is why I thought about laying carbon fiber for stripes and to smooth out the surface at the same time. Anyone ever done this on a hood or car itself?

[GM Muscle]

how about gel coat?

[98kotart]

the guy said he did gel coat this, but it didn't really fill anything. not sure exactly what gelcoat is supposed to do but I thought it was to give the paint a little bit more flex. is that correct?

[elitecustombody]

either he didn't mix the gelcoat right or it's just not thick enough, gelcoat is used precisely for the purpose to hide cloth weave and texture while providing a smooth surface that can be left as is or prepped and painted,depending on the application and thickness,most gelcoats can also be tinted to desired color or some can be ordered speciffic color, in your case,applying more gelcoat can be done, but it get pretty messy,then you'd still have to block sand it,since it's not done in a mold,so the surface won't come out slick,and tell you the truth,it won't be easy to block sand gelcoat,it's almost like you're trying to sand glass, your best solution is to sand it down with 80 grit, skim it wth good grade filler like Rage Gold or Rage Extreme, block, apply few coats of Evercoat G2 Featherfill polyester primer,block, prep and paint it

[wedged]

That looks like a Checkmate cover. If it is, the surface you descibe is how all of the ones i have seen are finished from the factory. My guess is that you'd need to spray it with a high build primer/filler and then sand smooth, being carefull not to sand through the primer- I don't do body work, so it really is a guess.