Gelcoat Repair

[graham]

The Dark blue gelcoat on our boat is scratched and chipped in places. I am reluctant to paint the hull if I can avoid it as it still polishes up quite well.

Anyone know where or if I can get coloured gel coat repair filler??

Thanks in advance Graham

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[bruce]

if you are like over here, gelcoat is sold either clear or white, and color dyes are purchased to mix yourself. for dark colors, use clear gellcoat as the white is very hard to turn real dark. mix tint and gell to match, then add hardner.

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[alan]

Try www.csfnet.co.uk
Their web based catalogue is good.

Alan.
Nettuno, Italy.

<hr width=100% size=1>Alan Cloke

 

[robind]

Blue can be a job to match consider that you may have to epoxy (blue) whole lot after a repair, if you are fussy?
Rob

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[boatmike]

Totally agree. You won't set an exact match from a tin as your boat will have faded anyway. Buy pigments and mix yourself.

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[Clive]

For minor imperfections have you tried "T" cut with the coloured dye (colour magic). It is sold by Halfords and other car places, works well. The coloured dye fillis the minor scraches etc.

If you do need to fill larger dents with gelcoat, over fill, allow to dry then cut back using 1200 wet & dry on a block , then use the colour magic to bring back the shine. Any slight flawes in the new gelcoat will be filled by the colour magic.

I have used it on both the white and blue parts of my X-302. but do over coat with a good polish with UV filter for protection.



<hr width=100% size=1>Clive

 

[gjgm]

depends on how many scratches and how deep. CFS/CSF is excellent supplier, but its wholesale. Smallest quantity of pigment is 500g, and when you consider maximum ratio to gelcoat is about 6pct.. thats a hell of alot of pigment! Good news is it only costs about £6. However, just like in B+Q. you arent going to mix up a colour match with just one shade of blue. They stock about 6 blue pigments I think, then you ll need some black,some red and some white. Thats now 2kg, at least, at 6pct... enough for a ferry! Then you'll need mixing cups, mixing sticks, polyester gelcoat, hardener, gloves (believe me, these pigments seem to get everywhere), wet and dry 400/600/800/1200 grit, and some filler to thicken the gelcoat if its on a vertical surface. It will take you about 2 hours to mix a reasonably close colour match wet. Smear some on the boat and let it dry.. it changes shade slightly, so you may need to re-adjust shading again.
Then you ve got the sanding and polishing. Forget it without a polisher/cpmpounder.. you can get one for about £40 from toolstation, i think its called. (Not one of these useless double handed car ones)
Its very time consuming.. it ll take at least a day, though once you have the colour ok, thats alot done. DONT put gelcoat all over the place or you'll spend another 2 days cutting and sanding it back again!
Good thing is once you done it, and got all the gear, then its dead easy to touch up each time in the future. Just a bit of an outlay to start with because of the quantities.And it need to be +15degrees really.. so its not a winter job.


You should get an ok result.. for a professional one, I d guess you re looking at £500 minimum.

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[alan]

Sorry, as last post pointed out a good supplier is www.cfsnet.co.uk

My earlier post had a typo in the web address..... this time it is correct as I have their catalogue in front of me !!
Alan.


<hr width=100% size=1>Alan Cloke