Refurbishing the GRP gel coat

[bdh198]

Hi

I would be extremely grateful for any advice or suggestions regarding the best way to go about refurbishing the gel coat on our boat's topsides. She is a 2007 built Hanse 370 and has dark blue topsides. Over the last few years she has picked up numerous scrapes and scratches and the colour has also faded.

How easy is it to do a DIY job to refurbish the topsides, and if it isn't too demanding how is it best to go about it? Alternatively if we need to get a professional to do it does anyone have any suggestions as to who is worth using in the Solent area (boat currently moored in Gosport), and how much it is likely to cost for a 37 footer?

Thanks for any help/suggestions anyone can provide.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Repairing dings and scratches in gel-coat is not for the average person, geeing a good colour match can be a task,
mind you, you would be a lot better at it by the finished.

Having the right equipment for grinding out tiny areas and good polishing gear also helps, oh, and the weather can a bit of a problem at times.

There are loads of hits on You-tube you could look through and get a better idea of just what's involved.

Most people take the easy way out and simply fill any damaged areas with Micro-Balloons and an epoxy resin and sand off to smooth finish then prime and paint the topsides with a 2 pack polyurethane.

Good luck and fair winds.

 

[Medskipper]

Hi

I would be extremely grateful for any advice or suggestions regarding the best way to go about refurbishing the gel coat on our boat's topsides. She is a 2007 built Hanse 370 and has dark blue topsides. Over the last few years she has picked up numerous scrapes and scratches and the colour has also faded.

How easy is it to do a DIY job to refurbish the topsides, and if it isn't too demanding how is it best to go about it? Alternatively if we need to get a professional to do it does anyone have any suggestions as to who is worth using in the Solent area (boat currently moored in Gosport), and how much it is likely to cost for a 37 footer?

Thanks for any help/suggestions anyone can provide.

First you have to find out if the blue is gel or just sprayed on! If it gel coat you should be able to cut it with a marine cutting paste and then polish it up. If it's painted you may need to respray it. When you look at the scratches can you see white through it? If yes then it's spray painted.

 

[bdh198]

When you look at the scratches can you see white through it? If yes then it's spray painted.

Yes, the blue is a very thin coat and there is white gel coat a mm or so beneath. Because the rest of the colour on the gel coat has faded would we need to re-paint the whole boat to avoid the repainted patches looking new and not matching the rest of the slightly faded gel coat?

 

[Daydream believer]

Go on the "My Hanse " forum where a number of forumites have had the problem with fading coloured gel coat on their Hanse
Expensive solutions include painting with awlgrip & other options include a vinyl covering. The latter can be repaired easy & can always be removed
With my Hanse I only have blue at the waterline & find that an oven cleaner works as a cleaner ( aspire is one, Vim is another ) I then polish with Autoglin car polish & the fading goes
Unfortunately the colour used by Hanse is not up to the quality of marques such as Maxi who's blue looks terrific even after a number of years

 

[pvb]

Yes, the blue is a very thin coat and there is white gel coat a mm or so beneath. Because the rest of the colour on the gel coat has faded would we need to re-paint the whole boat to avoid the repainted patches looking new and not matching the rest of the slightly faded gel coat?

I think we need a bit more information on why you want to improve the appearance. Repairing scrapes and scratches frankly isn't a DIY job, whatever other people may claim. If you just want it to look a bit smarter for your own enjoyment, you could try some gentle DIY treatment. However, if you're thinking of selling the boat, get a professional to sort the hull - it'll cost, but you'll recoup all of it and more in the sale price. Coloured gelcoat is fairly thin, so it's important that you don't attack it too vigorously if you want to retain the option of getting it professionally prepared for resale.

 

[Concerto]

Read this article about refurbing the gel coat. I followed this for my Westerly Fulmar and if you look in my details you can find a link to photos.
http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/acatalog/Gelcoat_Polishing.html
With regard to the scratches, have you asked Hanse if they will supply you with a can of original blue gel and hardner? Then you could do a test on a piece of wood for a colour match against an inconspicuous area (under transom) that has been cleaned. You may be lucky and have a very close match, then you could do it yourself if you are handy. If not you have the base colour for a repair man to then adjust the colour for a perfect match.

As alread mentioned it may be simpler and cheaper to just vinyl wrap the hull if you want a perfect finish. Just remember that a boat of your age will be highly unlikely to not have any repairs if you are considering selling. It is just a question of how visible any repair is. A good guide is the 10ft rule. If you cannot see a repair at 10ft, then most people will not bother if it has been done well.

 

[bdh198]

Thanks for the replies

We're not looking to sell, we just want it to look a little smarter and take out a few minor scrapes and scratches.

The vinyl option looks interesting. I've read the 2012 PBO article on it. Has anyone tried it?

 

[Heckler]

Hi

I would be extremely grateful for any advice or suggestions regarding the best way to go about refurbishing the gel coat on our boat's topsides. She is a 2007 built Hanse 370 and has dark blue topsides. Over the last few years she has picked up numerous scrapes and scratches and the colour has also faded.

How easy is it to do a DIY job to refurbish the topsides, and if it isn't too demanding how is it best to go about it? Alternatively if we need to get a professional to do it does anyone have any suggestions as to who is worth using in the Solent area (boat currently moored in Gosport), and how much it is likely to cost for a 37 footer?

Thanks for any help/suggestions anyone can provide.

My Bene 381 had the gel coat ground down by a wayward pontoon concrete float over an area of a sqr mtr or so. The superb craftsman in Pwllheli, Andy Pritchard, fixed it so well that you couldnt tell where it was. It helped that Beneteau put a plate on all their boats with the gel coat colour code on and sell the gel coat resin so that the match is spot on.
S

 

[balladsailor]

Gosport boatyard do some excellent work.
Just watched one of their shipwrights cut a hole in a hull ( obviously been in a collision) on an ageing boat. The repair is superb! Can't see the join, colour match on both hull and cove line is perfect.
Maybe worth talking to them.

 

[explores]

A friend of mine has had there Maxi 1050 vinyl covered and it has a super finnish.Got some spare vinyl for any dings as well.

 

[Javelin]

I find it strange that the colour has faded so much since 2007.
In the med maybe but usually we're ok for at least 10 years up here.

Colour match will be a bugger frankly as you need to establish the existing colour first.
Essentially this means you need to cut back a little with 2000 grit and then a hard-ish cutting compound and buff.
That should give you the current base colour which you then have to match for the dings and scratches.

If the colour fade is due to UV then it won't be consistent, in other words some areas will be greater or less effected, in which case the colour match will have to be done locally to any repair.

Re-gelling material wise is a lot cheaper than paint or wrapping but it is labour intensive getting the final finish.
However re-gelling is an easier process and more forgiving than painting.