Matching gelcoat colour

Go for ‘flowcoat/Topcoat, (same thing just different name, it is gelcoat that has the wax already added to allow it to set in air, so is the one to use for general repairs.
Color charts are useful, but on older boats there may be a degree of fading of the colour so for a ’perfect’ match some careful mixing of two pigments may be needed.
 
Praxinoscope said:
Go for ‘flowcoat/Topcoat, (same thing just different name, it is gelcoat that has the wax already added to allow it to set in air, so is the one to use for general repairs.
Color charts are useful, but on older boats there may be a degree of fading of the colour so for a ’perfect’ match some careful mixing of two pigments may be needed.
Click to expand...

Brilliant. Thank you. Flowcoat sounds great.
 
Just be aware, the purpose of the wax is that it floats to the surface to provide an air barrier so that the resin can fully cure. If you need to build your gel coat up in layers then you must remove the wax by sanding between coats and are thus relying on a mechanical bond between layers. With gel coat (not flow coat) you can apply it wet on tacky to build up thickness. Personally I prefer to buy gel coat and add my own styrene (which is all that flow coat is) as I only want the wax in the top layer so that it cures fully.

PS I’d echo the previous recommendations to look at Boatworks Today on YouTube. Theres loads of fantastic info on how to do this sort of job properly. Definitely time and effort well spent.
 
bignick said:
Just be aware, the purpose of the wax is that it floats to the surface to provide an air barrier so that the resin can fully cure. If you need to build your gel coat up in layers then you must remove the wax by sanding between coats and are thus relying on a mechanical bond between layers. With gel coat (not flow coat) you can apply it wet on tacky to build up thickness. Personally I prefer to buy gel coat and add my own styrene (which is all that flow coat is) as I only want the wax in the top layer so that it cures fully.

PS I’d echo the previous recommendations to look at Boatworks Today on YouTube. Theres loads of fantastic info on how to do this sort of job properly. Definitely time and effort well spent.
Click to expand...

Yes boatworks today are great videos the only problem I find is that he tends to paint everything, he rarely does any videos with actual Gelcoat blending in repairs
 
SandyP said:
Actually, women often have better colour appreciation than men
Seriously, many men are at least partially colour blind
Click to expand...

I forget the actual percentages, but I think it’s about only 2-3% of women that have any colour blindness, the percentage for men is much higher, this is why electronics factories used to employ predominantly women on the assembly lines, they could distinguish the colour codings on resistors etc better than men.
 
GrandadPig said:
I am not colour blind but am registered blind, so will definitely ask the missus to do the matching!
Click to expand...

I would def try and get a ral colour that’s close and if you still don’t like the colour tweek that a bit ,I’ve tried to create colours from scratch and it’s no fun , the professional use alsorts of wild colours inc red yellows browns Blacks etc just to come up with something that to my eye is white ,unless your an artist in previous life or have a very good eye it’s not easy , well I made right hash if it when I tried ,
and to add to that you can tint it perfect then it will fade in few weeks and won’t match ,some of the professionals actually make it not Match so when it fades it matches, god knows how they do that. ??? I would just find something close and as my grandad aways said “a blind man on galloping horse won’t notice “
 
Restoration man said:
I would def try and get a ral colour that’s close and if you still don’t like the colour tweek that a bit ,I’ve tried to create colours from scratch and it’s no fun , the professional use alsorts of wild colours inc red yellows browns Blacks etc just to come up with something that to my eye is white ,unless your an artist in previous life or have a very good eye it’s not easy , well I made right hash if it when I tried ,
and to add to that you can tint it perfect then it will fade in few weeks and won’t match ,some of the professionals actually make it not Match so when it fades it matches, god knows how they do that. ??? I would just find something close and as my grandad aways said “a blind man on galloping horse won’t notice “
Click to expand...
"unless your an artist in previous life or have a very good eye it’s not easy , well I made right hash if it when I tried"
That's why I suggested getting a pro to do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top