Grinding sparks on gelcoat.

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dean1994

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Hello, just noticed someone has obviously had fun with there grinder and all the metal sparks have landed all over the gelcoat. Now obviously there starting to bleed rust out. Y10 wont touch it, ive used a course compound with the mop on it and thats not really working either. Anyone know of a miracle solution that will work wonders lol.

thanks
 
dean1994 said:
Hello, just noticed someone has obviously had fun with there grinder and all the metal sparks have landed all over the gelcoat. Now obviously there starting to bleed rust out. Y10 wont touch it, ive used a course compound with the mop on it and thats not really working either. Anyone know of a miracle solution that will work wonders lol.

thanks
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Find someone to hold to account. Serious damage has been done to your boat.
Once they have paid for the repairs, throw a bucket of seawater over the repaired area. If filings a still exist embedded in your boat they will rust overnight.
And speak to Piers.
 
The sparks embed themselves into the gelcoat so you will never clean them off. A complaint to the marina as others have suggested would be the first step.
I have cut many items from mooring cleats as many insist on using a steel shackle to connect to the aluminium mooring cleat . The shackle then proceeds to saw through the cleat and then your line fails.. Not sure why people do this as the line never seems to fail at the cleat when tied normally but rather at the fairlead, or anywhere the rope is weak.
When cutting the junk off, or cutting the cleat off to replace i find myself a large cardboard box and make a kennel out of it, place it over the cleat then cut inside the box. Works faultlessly and not showered a boat in sparks yet !
A long long time ago i was cutting steel with a grinder and the sparks were hitting a window. Thought nothing of it as they were also hitting me with shorts on but didnt feel hot.
Saw the window a few days later and the glass was destroyed with embedded sparks all over the glass and was not a pretty sight..
 
Remember that grinding sparks are coming off the grinder at over 300 MPH and are extremely hot and they will embed themselves into glass, if they embed in glass they will do considerable damage to softer things such as gel coat and you cannot get rid of them.
Hold the marina liable as they will have public liability insurance and should pay for your repairs and counterclaim against the company firing these sparks around; lets be realistic here, it takes minutes to set up screens to protect from flying sparks and I personally use cotton sheets sprayed with water to dampen them and they work a treat and are cheap.
 
dean1994 said:
Hello, just noticed someone has obviously had fun with there grinder and all the metal sparks have landed all over the gelcoat. Now obviously there starting to bleed rust out. Y10 wont touch it, ive used a course compound with the mop on it and thats not really working either. Anyone know of a miracle solution that will work wonders lol.

thanks
Click to expand...
FARSCO said:
hopefully Piers from the forum will be along.

unfortunately......he’s an expert!
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So sorry to hear this. With Play d'eau having been covered twice with metal filings, I know the personal pain this causes. The good news is that it can all be 'cured'.

Some initial questions. Boat make model; is the filing damage limited to the GRP?

Last associated questions: do you think there's an insurance clam against the culprit? Are other boats on the vicinity affected?
 
Its a beneteau antares 760, alot of the spots polish out quite well theres just a few deep ones that are giving me OCD. I mentioned it to marina but they dont seem to be having none of it, no just seems to be mine when it was out the water

thanks
 
member
Its a beneteau antares 760, alot of the spots polish out quite well theres just a few deep ones that are giving me OCD. I mentioned it to marina but they dont seem to be having none of it, no just seems to be mine when it was out the water

thanks
 
Piers said:
So sorry to hear this. With Play d'eau having been covered twice with metal filings, I know the personal pain this causes. The good news is that it can all be 'cured'.

Some initial questions. Boat make model; is the filing damage limited to the GRP?

Last associated questions: do you think there's an insurance clam against the culprit? Are other boats on the vicinity affected?
Click to expand...
member
Its a beneteau antares 760, alot of the spots polish out quite well theres just a few deep ones that are giving me OCD. I mentioned it to marina but they dont seem to be having none of it, no just seems to be mine when it was out the water

thanks
 
Oxyaglic acid will get rid of marks but they will return. I lost it with a survey company who though it was OK to grind next to GRP top sides - they didn't give a $h1t as wasn't their boat We never got rid of the rust marks

W.
 
dean1994 said:
member
Its a beneteau antares 760, alot of the spots polish out quite well theres just a few deep ones that are giving me OCD. I mentioned it to marina but they dont seem to be having none of it, no just seems to be mine when it was out the water

thanks
Click to expand...

The person I'd trust to look at the issues, advise and maybe do the work is Julian Willmott of GRP Boat Repairs (07774 141 913). Call him and say Piers said to call him. The issue where you've polished the metal is whether you have all of it out so you don't keep have rusting issues in the future. He'll be able to treat the deeper ones. Julian will tell you exactly as it is. No fluff.

It's not surprising the marina doesn't want anything to do with the claim and it may well be excluded in their terms. How about approaching the culprit, but even them it may be hard of no other boats appear to have been damaged.

Let me know how you get on.,
 
I had some from a guys work and in the end all I could do was to use a 'Dremel' and grind the worst ones out and then polish out the slight 'dents' left. But I'm lucky - I have an old 70's solid built GRP with no core or lack of GRP depth.

There are still odd ones there - if anyone cares to search for them ... but generally those are actually fading ... but it has taken years for that !
 
Two experiences.
My boat was coated with grinding specs from a tug boat moored up wind.
The specs did not penetrate the gelcoat but just laid on the surface and then rusted merrily away.
My solution was to soak affected parts in Oxylic Acid and leave for rain to eventually wash out.
There was certainly nothing visable after 6 months and a then couple of polishes with a tub of Silky.

My brother was doing grinding and welding on a steel boat and despite screening and only working with no breeze, grinding particals did manage to cover the rear of a nearbye Princess 380 and made a right mess.
A local boat cleaning business was called in and a mornings work restored the irate owners boat to what he was happy with.
Owner also got all of his boat cut and polished into the bargain.

All is not lost.
 
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