does anyone know how much gel coat repairs might cost...?

[deourino]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Had a bit of a shock today and wondered if anyone could help. I've been doing some work on my boat and it turns out some tiny bits of metal from my wire brush have drifted over to my neighbour's boat and rusted onto his gelcoat. It all looks pretty superficial to me but I know nothing about gel coat (I've only had a wooden boat). Anyway he wants to claim on my 3rd party insurance to get his gel coat redone on the rubbing strake that the bits of rust are on.
He told me categorically that it won't polish out but it looks like it would to me...
does anyone think a) that I'm being taken for a ride, or if not, then b) how much, roughly, I'm looking at to get his gel coat redone? It's a 2-inch wide strip of rubbing strake that sits proud of his hull.

I've got insurance, but I'm pretty worried in case they don't pay out and it's thousands - I literally have no idea what it might cost. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Blackfeather]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Had a bit of a shock today and wondered if anyone could help. I've been doing some work on my boat and it turns out some tiny bits of metal from my wire brush have drifted over to my neighbour's boat and rusted onto his gelcoat. It all looks pretty superficial to me but I know nothing about gel coat (I've only had a wooden boat). Anyway he wants to claim on my 3rd party insurance to get his gel coat redone on the rubbing strake that the bits of rust are on.
He told me categorically that it won't polish out but it looks like it would to me...
does anyone think a) that I'm being taken for a ride, or if not, then b) how much, roughly, I'm looking at to get his gel coat redone? It's a 2-inch wide strip of rubbing strake that sits proud of his hull.

I've got insurance, but I'm pretty worried in case they don't pay out and it's thousands - I literally have no idea what it might cost. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Tell him to stop being an opportunist tart and give him a small tub of Y10. If that doesn't work, mix some oxalic acid with wallpaper paste, splash it on and rinse it off after 15 minutes.

 

[Stork_III]

Buy him a bottle of Starbrite rust remover and a cloth. Ask for the bottle back when he has used it, as the majority of the contents will not have been used.

 

[KevB]

Firstly even if it did need a gel coat man it wont be thousands. Secondly the guy is trying it on. Personally I'd ignore him. Trying to resolve the issue by buying him something to 'fix' it implies liability

 

[alt]

He is making a mountain out of a mohill. Provided that the metal wires have only 'landed' on the gelcoat and haven't scratched, all you need, as said above, is some Oxalic Acid to remove the stain.

You can buy Y10 which contains Oxalic Acid. Give the gelcoat a hosing down with water beforehand and make sure it's clean. Then paint (liberally) the Y10 over the affected areas. Go for a cup of tea. When you come back just wipe it off with a cloth and water. Apologise for the inconvenience caused and tell him to get stuffed.

PS. I found that Oxalic Acid needs a temp of about at least 10celcius to work - it doesn't work well in anything under that

 

[PaulGooch]

<Snip>

some tiny bits of metal from my wire brush have drifted over to my neighbour's boat and rusted onto his gelcoat. It all looks pretty superficial to me but I know nothing about gel coat (I've only had a wooden boat).

<Snip>

Just to be 100% clear, these tiny bit, they were "flicked" over by a hand wire brush ? Not bits of hot metal by a wire wheel on a drill or grinder ?

If so, the advise you've already been given is spot on.

 

[Scubadoo]

I can tell you the score from my experience of a similar situation....

Quite a few years ago MDL did some berth maintenance where a contractor used a grinder to do some metal work to a berth next to mine, I ended up with metal bits etc all over the port side of my boat. It had gone rusty by the time I got to see my boat. After the initial shock, I got out the grp cleaner (grp wipe off & starbrite telfon polish) and it cleaned off quite quickly. MDL were very good and paid compenstation.

So basically yes the guy is trying it on and if it was me, I would offer to clean it with my own cleaner and then finish off with his preferred polish.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

My experiences were slightly different; years ago, some contractors were carrying out maintenance on the floating apartments on the eastern jetty at Brighton. These apartments have metal roofs, and they were cutting the roof material at height using power tools. I was berthed in the nearest berth to the apartments, and sure enough, my boat got covered in rust spots as a result of the hot metal dust from the cutting. Despite endless cleaning with various products, it was never completely eradicated - and with hindsight, a gelcoat repair might have been a reasonable resolution.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[strakeryrius]

It might be amusing to clean it off while he is not there, and then ask him for photographic proof of the damage for the insurance.

 

[nrbx]

My experiences were slightly different; years ago, some contractors were carrying out maintenance on the floating apartments on the eastern jetty at Brighton. These apartments have metal roofs, and they were cutting the roof material at height using power tools. I was berthed in the nearest berth to the apartments, and sure enough, my boat got covered in rust spots as a result of the hot metal dust from the cutting. Despite endless cleaning with various products, it was never completely eradicated - and with hindsight, a gelcoat repair might have been a reasonable resolution.

Cheers
Jimmy

Surely a good polish / cut back, or worst case a little bit of wet and dry would sort this out? Be a lot easier and cheaper than replacing the gelcoat.

 

[Scubadoo]

My experiences were slightly different; years ago, some contractors were carrying out maintenance on the floating apartments on the eastern jetty at Brighton. These apartments have metal roofs, and they were cutting the roof material at height using power tools. I was berthed in the nearest berth to the apartments, and sure enough, my boat got covered in rust spots as a result of the hot metal dust from the cutting. Despite endless cleaning with various products, it was never completely eradicated - and with hindsight, a gelcoat repair might have been a reasonable resolution.

Cheers
Jimmy

Maybe it is down to using the right cleaner and I was lucky. The best product to remove any stains from Rust to Oil (in my experience) is called "Wipe Out" (it is like a marine version of ajax). However I bought it 10+years ago and not seen it for sale lately, maybe under a different name.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Surely a good polish / cut back, or worst case a little bit of wet and dry would sort this out? Be a lot easier and cheaper than replacing the gelcoat.

Are you replying to the OP, or me? I don't have the prob any more - sold the boat long ago.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[oldgit]

Do nOt PAnIc

OK.my boat boat is parked in very commercial part of the world and surrounded by steel boats of all flavours,some from time to time feel the need to grind,cut and weld steel plates.
Every now and then my old Princess 33 got a good old coating of iron bits from grinding wheels and possibly worse,tiny bits of broken steel wire from rotary wire brushes.
add an overnight shower and hey presto rust stains in the gelcoat.The little metal bits seem to stick into the gelcoat but will come out .
The good news was over time all the rust stains disappeared completely ,however the really obvious ones were helped to go by Y10,liberal amounts of elbow grease and "Silky" a cheap budget caravan cleaner and frequent doses of ordinary car wash n wax and hosing off.
Do not think the man next door is trying it on,he is just well pissed that his pride and joy has been soiled by an unthinking nit witie you.
It probably will need an bit of apologetic grovelling by you,but his boat can be sorted without major expence or acrimony.My man down here charges around £25.00 per hour reckon if it can be polished out,a morning should be more than enough.
Ps.If it helps in the least,went down to my new boat today was poking about around side deck drains and sure as eggs is eggs a close look revealed,well will let you guess................Grrr.

My suggestion would be..... on bended knee
Please mister ?????.I am very very sorry am a complete p***/moron etc etc,will you let me try to sort it by cleaning/y10/polish/virgins blood etc to remove stains meeself to your satisfaction,if no success will engage prof man to sort it.

 

[Eon]

Gel coat costs

My aging Halcyon needs a bit of tidying up of the gel coat does anyone know what one would expect to pay per day?

 

[coliholic]

It might be amusing to clean it off while he is not there, and then ask him for photographic proof of the damage for the insurance.

+1. And surpress a giggle when he can't find the damage.

 

[Gelmaster]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. Had a bit of a shock today and wondered if anyone could help. I've been doing some work on my boat and it turns out some tiny bits of metal from my wire brush have drifted over to my neighbour's boat and rusted onto his gelcoat. It all looks pretty superficial to me but I know nothing about gel coat (I've only had a wooden boat). Anyway he wants to claim on my 3rd party insurance to get his gel coat redone on the rubbing strake that the bits of rust are on.
He told me categorically that it won't polish out but it looks like it would to me...
does anyone think a) that I'm being taken for a ride, or if not, then b) how much, roughly, I'm looking at to get his gel coat redone? It's a 2-inch wide strip of rubbing strake that sits proud of his hull.

I've got insurance, but I'm pretty worried in case they don't pay out and it's thousands - I literally have no idea what it might cost. Any advice would be much appreciated.

If the rust contamination is only superficial (not burnt in), and it is on a smooth section of gelcoat, then it is very easy to remove by using the prior suggestions.
If that does fail (which it shouldnt) use a 2000 grade wet & dry paper and then buff back to new by using Farecla G6 rubbing compound!

 

[penzo]

A few weeks back i made the mistake of hacksawing short some mild steel bolts beside the rail at the back end of my boat. It was two weeks later when i returned and noticed all the little rust spots on the gelcoat. I used t-cut to pollish them out which worked fine with no apparent damage done.

 

[rafiki_]

If the rust contamination is only superficial (not burnt in), and it is on a smooth section of gelcoat, then it is very easy to remove by using the prior suggestions.
If that does fail (which it shouldnt) use a 2000 grade wet & dry paper and then buff back to new by using Farecla G6 rubbing compound!

Welcome back Gelmaster, you have been missed.

 

[deourino]

Guys sorry for the reply a whole year late, it took us almost that long to get it sorted but thank you for your help, calmed us down when we were really panicking! In the end we submitted an insurance claim, which the guy claimed he couldn't wait for, he booked someone himself to come and clean his boat down (who, incidentally, was using T-Cut!) then tried to charge us £450 personally! At this point we realised he was completely trying it on, as did the insurance company, who refused to pay as he hadn't co-operated with them...he moved to another berth and annoyed his new neighbours so much that they complained...and has now left for Greece, presumably to attempt to scam some other people. The insurance company didn't even put our premiums up so we got off very lightly with several grovelling, tear-stained apology sessions to him which I now kind of wish I hadn't bothered with...but then I genuinely was sorry.

Thanks for all the advice...wish I had had the cojones to just clean it off with t-cut in his absence...next time I'll know!

 

[Nick_H]

Guys sorry for the reply a whole year late

Two years actually, doesn't time fly!