Advanced gel coat repair

[Merrily]

Yesterday during a regatta I was slow in tacking and hit another Laser at ramming speed. The bow of my boat hit the stern of the other (starboard tack) Laser and ran right up over it. I did my apology and turns and continued to race. When I got off the water I saw the damage. The gel coat is crackled in a large-ish circle right on the bow, right where the stripe meets the white. Fortunately, the fiberglass seems intact. It's around 3 inches, what is that, maybe 5-6 centimeters.

I believe I need to chisel out all flaked or cracked areas. I was able to pick the loosest out by hand. My question is how to apply the gel coat in order to get a nice line dividing the blue stripe and white hull? Does anyone have experience with this? Also, should I put a thin layer of epoxy over the fiberglass before applying the gel?

 

[computeroman2]

If all the gelcoat is missing, not just scratched, I would bet that the fiberglass is just a little damaged, so you should use resin. In fact, I wouldn't worry about using gelcoat at all unless you want to make it look pretty. If so, just use a small layer of gelcoat over the major repair, done with epoxy/resin.

 

[49208]

If you are concerned about color matching, best left to a pro unless the gel has not faded at all and the original color(s) is still available.

Check with Vanguard to see if your color gelcoat(s) are available. If they are, then you can also ask them what they recommend as the best way to fix and keep a nice straight line between the two colors.

If the damaged area is still stiff, ie the glass underneath is not flexing, then you should be able to remove the cracked gel, feather back the good gel edge and re-gel. You should be able to refer to the 'glass repair article that you used to fix the hole in the bottom, only this time you only need to do the gel coat portion.

 

[gouvernail]

You can use my How to Make Your Bottom Pretty article to do the gelcoat work
( http://schrothfiberglass.com/LaserMaint.htm )

Just add the following for stripes.



For a scratch this is almost but not quite easy. You fill the gouge on one side of the line and when you spill over into the other side of the line, you simply scratch the wrong color back out of the groove. If you take your time, you can scratch the line accutately.

Once one color is filled and you have established a straight line in the groove, all you need to do is fill the second side of the groove with the other color. If you get some wrong color gelcoat on top of the other side of the line...carefully sand it off just as you sand excess gelcoat off any other scratch repair....

Need to color match the gelcoat?? Ouch!! For a few bucks, Vanguard will send little cans of gelcoat to you that are pretty close to the color of your boat. From 10 feet away, you proabboy will not ee the repair. If you want perfection...you need lots of little dabs of pigment or various colors of gelcoat and a ton of patience.
be careful with the pigments. Too much pigment will ruin the gelcoat.

 

[Radial 171107]

Ouch! That sounds nasty! I've gotten a hole in my bow before right on the appex where one side meets the other. I didnt use any gel coat, i used resin. Also i've seen people just use selleys filler, this is a while bakc but i think it was marine filler. Good Luck!

 

[Merrily]

I didnt use any gel coat, i used resin.

Hey, it's a 2003 boat that I'm trying to keep pretty.

Also, I have a book meant for artists for mixing paint colors. I consulted with it and my first layer of blue gelcoat matches pretty well! The surprising thing is that the white part is already starting to yellow a bit. This is involving lots of taping and sanding, and I don't think it's going to be perfect on close inspection, because I'd rather be sailing!

 

[Radial 171107]

Hey, it's a 2003 boat that I'm trying to keep pretty.

Fair enough. I have absolutely no idea about colours and matching etc.. but if i were u i'd get someone serious to look at it if you want it to look real neat and all. But i wouldnt waste to much time over the colours, I'd be more worried abotu getting a good repair done, no leaks ad getting bakc on the water.

 

[Merrily]

I'd be more worried abotu getting a good repair done, no leaks ad getting bakc on the water.

Hey, it wasn't holed. I did that on the other boat about two weeks ago when a big shifted gust picked it up and slammed it down on the dock. Talk about an act of God! Fixed that myself and I got a nice solid patch. I'm still working on the smooth finish.