Matching gelcoat

pvb said:
By now, it will have faded. A good gelcoat repair guy will be able to match it.
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The vessel in question is a wayfarer, approx 30 yrs old, and it's just the usual signs of age like crazing and air bubbles that I was hoping to do myself especially as I now find myself a man of leisure after my employer decided I was no longer required.
 
Dazedkipper said:
The vessel in question is a wayfarer, approx 30 yrs old, and it's just the usual signs of age like crazing and air bubbles that I was hoping to do myself especially as I now find myself a man of leisure after my employer decided I was no longer required.
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No reason why you shouldn't try doing it yourself, but test on an out-of-sight bit! Tinting gelcoat is an art.
 
Dazedkipper said:
Anyone found a good match for Westerly 'white' gelcoat which to my eye looks slightly cream colour?
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I'm stating the obvious but it may or may not be worth doing something other than plain white. Obviously sand down around the area first which will reveal the gelcoat you should be matching rather than the top layer. I've found that the gelcoat on my westerly's hull still looks good at 27 years old and it's just not worth trying any colour matching. I filled numerous dings last time it was out of the water and a year later they're invisible. The cockpit gelcoat though is thinner. Again I didn't bother colour matching but the white on some big holes I filled is frankly a little too white but the problem here seems to be thinness of the old gelcoat starting to expose the underlying glass fibres so maybe no amount of colour matching would have worked.

Without seeing your task I'd suggest rubbing it down, trying the white and seeing if you can live with it after it's had a few months of weathering. Failing that blue gee do a range of different "off white" pigments to experiment with but working out which one will edge you towards the right hue takes a better colour eye than I have. Sand down the area to match, then put tiny drops into gelcoat wthout hardener until you either get it right or realise you've gone too far and have to start over again...
 
I have been doing a few repairs on my Discus and found that by adding a small amount of RAL1013 pigment to white gelcoat the repairs are pretty much invisible. You do need to rub the area down first to expose the true colour, as said above.
 
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