Gel Coat Repair Advice

[Amp1ng]

Hi all,

I have a couple of dints in my gel coat that need attention this winter. Two areas:

1) Right on the bow - 5pence piece size, irregular shape, approx 1 - 1.5mm at deepest point
2) Through hole in cockpit from old GPS cable entry - approx 15mm dia. I have glassed behind the hole ready for filler and gel coat.

Hull colour is off-white. Does anybody have any recommendations as to a cost effective repair kit and colour match pigments. Also is there a choice between polyester and epoxy based gel coat systems and if so which is best. Are there any particular do's and don'ts or handy tips on offer to help me through the practical repair.

Many thanks.

 

[Nigel_Ward]

The only advice I can give is not to overfill the hole or chip as sanding inevitably wears the surrounding gelcoat.

Also, do not start till you have a decent colour match. There is nothing worse than a patch of the wrong colour.

The hardest bit is getting the colour to match well. I find this can take a long time unless you have a good eye for what colour makes it "off" white. I start with a small sample of mixed colours then paint a small patch and cover with wide gloss selotape. This gives an even gloss for the original and new gel together for colour comparison. Usually the first mix looks good in the pot but rubbish under the selotape.

 

[theoldsalt]

Yes colour match is asthetically important to the eye but more important is to keep water out of the underlying glass matt especially if freezing is a possibility. So my advise is to get a gelcoat repair kit and keep it onbard so that a temporary repair can be applied as soon as the damage is done.
The temporary repair can always be removed and a coloured repair undertaken at some later more convenient time if necessary.

 

[rob2]

Epoxy will adhere better. I'm told that women have more colour receptors in their eyes so tend to be able to match colours better. Do you know any female artists?

There was an article in PBO a while back on the subject which could prove useful. The guy doing the repair mixed up a small amount of epoxy without catalyst and added colours with a cocktail stick to get the match - daubing them onto a polished area of the original gelcoat. This could then be wiped off and once the match was achieved the recipe was used to make a larger batch of resin. The large batch could then be catalyzed as required during the repair.

Good luck!

Rob.

 

[gjgm]

Hi all,

I have a couple of dints in my gel coat that need attention this winter. Two areas:

1) Right on the bow - 5pence piece size, irregular shape, approx 1 - 1.5mm at deepest point
2) Through hole in cockpit from old GPS cable entry - approx 15mm dia. I have glassed behind the hole ready for filler and gel coat.

Hull colour is off-white. Does anybody have any recommendations as to a cost effective repair kit and colour match pigments. Also is there a choice between polyester and epoxy based gel coat systems and if so which is best. Are there any particular do's and don'ts or handy tips on offer to help me through the practical repair.

Many thanks.

Gelcoat is just the finish-polyester is easier to mix- in fact I am surprised if you can find epoxy gel,readily.
To match off white, you will need anything up to maybe 5 pigments, and unless you are experienced at artwork anyway, several hours-basically because you have no idea what you are doing !!
Assuming that doesnt sound so rewarding, it is then a case of "how close" a colour match.
Buy an £8 tube of gelcoat filler in white;dead easy to use. See if the colour mismatch drives you mad, or isnt readily visible.
After that, do a search on here for gelcoat repairs, or there are plenty of tips on youtube etc.
BTW, a sissy little kit isnt much difference in costs to tubs of the stuff , which at least gives you lots of slop to play with! Plenty of mixers,latex gloves and wooden stirring sticks,grades of wet and dry.
Two co.s I know of are one in Essex and one Redruth.. I'm sure google will ind them.

 

[ostell]

There was an article in PBO a while back on the subject which could prove useful. The guy doing the repair mixed up a small amount of epoxy without catalyst and added colours with a cocktail stick to get the match - daubing them onto a polished area of the original gelcoat. This could then be wiped off and once the match was achieved the recipe was used to make a larger batch of resin. The large batch could then be catalyzed as required during the repair.

This Guy. When he's finished you can't tell where he's been, even though you know where the repair should be.

So if you are close then contact him.

 

[ksutton]

Most yacht builders would have a RAL colour number recorded against the hull number or sales reference. You should then be able to get gel coat mixed by a supplier to that original RAL number. I get my gel coat from the people who built my yacht.