Wet sanding a laser

[Jeff Gallo]

hey guys I just bought my laser and it has one or two spider cracks in the bottom of the hull. I have heard from people that wet sanding the boat will be able to help with the cracks. As of right now I am going to wet sand buff and wax the boat in that order. If you have any suggestions on how to to this better please inform me. Also if wet sanding is an option what grit paper do I use? Thanks in advance.

 

[fhhuber]

Wet sanding will possibly show you how bad the crack is... Its not going to fix it.

Wet sanding is more for removing oxidized gel coat for appearance.

You do need to find out if the crack is just in the gel coat from minor flexing or a sign of the fiberglass starting to crack.

 

[Wavedancer]

I agree with fhhuber.
With respect to the spiderwebs you have to find out if they are just superficial or 'all the way through' to the fiberglass.
If the former, just go sailing. The latter should be filled in (MarineTex will do the job, but may be frowned upon by the experts).

All you need to know about wetsanding:
Gelcoat Repair Primer

A lot of work to do it properly !

 

[torrid]

Spider cracks in the gelcoat are a common problem. The gelcoat and the underlying fiberglass expand and contract at different rates.