Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

[dpb]

I have just recieved some US Marine gel coat patch repair paste which is colour matched to my boats original gel coat.
I have read the instructions which seem simple enough and intend to use it to repair some very minor scratches on my year old boat .
Any experiences worth knowing about before I give it a go?

 

[alan006]

You should clean the area around the damage with a fine cutting compound. Make sure the hole is clean and dry, if necessary use a dremmel to clean out the hole. Mix up the gel coat and apply it proud of the hole. If the hole is deep build up the repair with several layers. Sand back the hardened repair working from medium to fine grits. Finish off with a polish.

 

[hlb]

Dont forget it must be wet and dry, and kept very wet.

 

[kcrane]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

How did you get the colour matched gel paste?

 

[alan006]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

Forgot to say do a test piece first in a discrete spot. Depending on the age of your boat the original gel coat may have faded. It is a specalist job to adust the pigments in the gel coat to allow for this, however it is possible to do. Reds and blues are very prone to fading and are harder to match than whites. If we are talking about a shade of white that has faded then if you are lucky you can add a touch of offwhite or cream to get close. Be careful with the sanding some of the american gel coats are very thin and you can easily go through the gelcoat.

 

[gjgm]

the paste needs a decent surface to bond with. If the scratch is very light, you arent going to achieve that unless you make it more substantial. A stanley knife blade will do, but you want to create a V channel. Question is whether its fine enough to polish out with some paste and a polisher instead.
Even if you get a good colour match, on a blue hull be very careful that your repair is a totally flat finish or it can become even more obvious!
Use a number of wet and dry.. all the way to 1200, and start practicing on somewhere no one looks ! IE not in the middle of the hull! Generally, I'd suggest if its through the blue gel and down to the white/grp, its worth doing. If its more of a blemish, you run a real risk of making it alot worse. Always good to have some matched gel, bcz sooner or later you will make a right good one!

 

[DorsetPete]

gjgm is right on the money!
A bodged repair will knock lots of value off your boat.
Get a professional in to do the job for you.
They look at dozens of little jobs like yours every week and can make repairs that you will not be able to see.
If you make a repair with the 'paste' you have bought just remember that it will fade and discolour at a different rate to the original gelcoat because it is a different material so as time goes by the repair will become more obvious.
Good luck

 

[alan006]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

Bikeman is right you should only have a go if you think you can make a neat job of it. Where did you get the colour matched gelcoat from? If you got it from the boat manufacturer it should be exactly the same as what was used in the original build and so should age in a simular way. If you have a go and do not do a neat job you are making it harder for a professional to repair as you will have thinned the gel coat around the damaged area.
Good luck either way!

 

[trev]

I have finally arrived at the point where I can make a reasonable (and only reasonable) repair after years of trying. I think such things are best left to the experts and blow the expense.

 

[oldgit]

Even if its not glaringly obvious that its a not proffesional gel coat repair when you first do it,worry not,it will be after a year or two.

 

[duncan]

not disagreeing with the 'get it done professionally mob' if you are doing it yourself
clean with acetone
1. mask up the scratches with one layer of insulating tape
2. fill flat to the tape
3. let it go off properly!
4. remove tape and take it back to the normal level with w&d on a suitable sanding pad
5. when you have done them all then use a cutting paste like g3 on the whole hull
6. apply a good wax

polishing gear from www.cleanandshiny.com - no conection other than a forumite

 

[hlb]

Well, see if you can solve this one. I've got a bit where the gell coat goes to nothing and its black underneith. Everytime I try to fill it, I finnish up with the black showing through. It's only a bit, about two inches long and a quarter wide maybe.

 

[boatbuilder]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

It's because the gelcoat has been sanded through. It is allmost impossible to just spotfill a worn gellcoat. You need to wet & dry an area about 2" bigger than the worn gell and re gell to that border.
Put it on good and thick and then you have something to work with.
Carefully w&d it back using a bigger backing block.

 

[dpb]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

The boat is a Bayliner and I got the paste by mail order from Windmere Aquatic, the main importers.

 

[dpb]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

Thanks for all the responses.
The get it done proffesionally lobby do have a point.
The marks are not noticeable from more than a few feet away and are in a fairly prominent position near the bow so I will regret it if it goes wrong.
I will need to think about this before proceeding!!!!

 

[hlb]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

No, you wont regret it if it goes wrong, it will just need doing again., well less you start attacking it with an angle grinder!!

 

[duncan]

Re: Gel coat Patch repair Paste any advice on use?

hope - as hlb says worst case you get someone in to do it (even after you screw up!) don;t get busy with the wax though - and definitely don't use a teflon polish!