Gel Color Matches

[chuck711]

Need some direction on tinting my white gel
to a "Taupe" color ( Brown or Biege }
using primary pigments.

In Trinidad repairing after Hurricane IVAN

[RichH]

There are many ''repair kits'' that include the base white plus the ''tint'' colors available from most mail order sources: West Marine etc.

The basic ''recipe'' for color matching (for light brown and beige) goes like this: Take a glob of white, a small dab of red and and small dab of green and mix together as a paste (green & red make brown)- DO NOT add hardner. Apply/spread a small amount of the mix (without hardner) NEXT to the area that needs repair and compare the ''hue''. Keep adding very teeny dabs of primary colors until the ''hue'' perfectly matches the color that you want, then scrape ALL off and wash the surface with acetone and let dry. When adding the teeny amount of color pigment, think what PRIMARY color is lacking in the mix. When you
fianally arrive at the color (hue) that you perceive is ''perfect'', add the hardner and then trowel on, ....

... let fully cure, then wet sand with progressively finer grit wet & dry paper (end with 2000 grit) and then power buff with progressively finer and finer grit compound, finally polish / power-buff with 3M "finesse it", then wax. This assumes that you *know* how to power-buff without burning through gelcoat.

Caution- If you are over 45 years of age, get a ''young person'' to agree to the ''red-ness'' of the mix, as ''old farts'' can''t visually perceive *red* very well.