Colour matching gelcoat

[silverseal]

My boat has white hull with a soft cream topsides. Filling dinks in the hull is not a problem with white gelcoat filler.
With the topsides I have bought a set of three "yellowish colours" for colouring clear gelcoat. One is magnolia, the second is a yellower pigment and the third is a light brown. My topsides are somewhere between magnolia and white, but what ever combination of colour I use, the resulting gelcoat is too "yellow".
Anybody know a colour matching service ?

 

[BrendanS]

Do you have access to someone that does graphic design on photoshop or similar? This sort of matching is more an art than a science, as the pigments vary so much. Not so much in their colour as in their translucency and other qualities of the pigment. It largely comes from experience.

If you can't find someone who can colour match, there are a few options. Buying a suitable batch from the manufacturer. Finding an experienced gelcoat expert who will do what you are doing, but with a wider range of pigments. I doubt anyone can do it remotely. Bear in mind, that even if they perfectly colour match, they might 'weather' differently, as different combiniations used now, and a few years down the line might show up as different.

 

[alienzdive]

Try mixing orange and green in small quantities into white?

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'Day Stewart,

If the Gelcoat on deck has been there for a few years, the new gelcoat will fade at a different rate, so in a couple of seasons you may be able to see the repair again.

Avagoodweekend...........

 

[gjgm]

from CLS (I think it s called) get white gelcoat,some black, some red and maybe another yellow too (only £5 a can anyway). Test mix 1/4 of a cup at at time adding the tiniest (much less than a drop) at a time; you ll soon find out which yellow is wrong. At a guess, i d suggest the white gelcoat, touch of black (to tone down the yellow), probably a touch of red to adjust the yellow if you need towards orange spectrum, and yellows. After a few attempts you ll get a sense of which mix is going right and which (like now) is going too yellow for example. Might take you30-60 minutes of experimenting, so you ll need alot of mixing cups and sticks, because any contamination and your scuppered.
I fact it isnt too hard to get very close. Clean up a patch of gelcoat (no hardener)so its really clean, and smear a finger of gel over;maybe you ll end up with three or four patches and beginn too see whats happening with more red etc. When youre pleased wipe it all way with acetone and add hardener to the best guess. Smear on a little and allow to dry because it will change hue a little dry compared to wet. Maybe you ll need to change it again.
Its a bit time consuming and you ll be pleased you bought industrial quantities of latex gloves !, but Id reckon within an hour you ll be pretty pleased with yourself! Make sure its a warm sunny day, and its all rather therapeutic !! Incidently, i d recomend getting a proper compound polisher try toolstation.com. (co.uk). They have one for £40 odd. It ll save your day ! PM me if you want to ask anything