Recs on good Gel Coat/Glasser in North Shore

[DrB]

MA area.

Not pointing any blame, but before I left my boat in the hands of the Winter yard folks for haul, the gel coat on the outside was pristine. Once on the jack stands, the back "quarter panel" on the port side has a 4 ft lazy S gouge in the gel coat. It's about 3/16th inch deep and 3/16" to 1/8" wide. If it was below water line, I'd fill it myself, but it is in a very visible place, so it needs to be repaired by someone who is skilled at doing this.

Anyone have a person that can do this?

Gel coat is white and not painted. Boat is a 79' Pearson 10M. and the gel coat is original.

Thanks.

DrB

[scottyt]

do it your self its not hard. the trick is many tries, each slightly larger than the last, each one a slightly different shade. once you get it right feather it out with sand paper and polish. you should be able to get in a few tries, or the first if your close and feather it out well.

also you might want to lightly sand around it to get the true color, because when you sand the patch out you will sand the old gelcoat slightly too. so any color change would not be planed for.

the key is get the color close and feather it out over 8 to 10 inches, then a minor color change will not be noticable

[14432]

3/16 of an inch deep is a heck of a gouge. How thick is the gelcoat on the hull? Could this be compromising the strength of the hull? Seems like a 3/16" gouge would be into the laminate.

[DrB]

Probably more 3/32 to 1/8" ish. It doesn't go to the glass. Gel coat and glass are pretty thick in these boats. In some places the glass is 1" thick.

The gouge is depth enough to see from 30 feet away.

DrB

[sailingdog]

You can probably do the repair yourself. Fill the gouge to slightly less than flush with the surface using something like thickened epoxy or MarineTex.... then sand the area lightly and gelcoat. You can probably get a pretty close match using a repair kit.

[doctorcam]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

You can probably do the repair yourself. Fill the gouge to slightly less than flush with the surface using something like thickened epoxy or MarineTex.... then sand the area lightly and gelcoat. You can probably get a pretty close match using a repair kit.

I don't think - others will probably know more about this - that gelcoat will bond well to epoxy. The opposite is true. Better to fill with polyester resin, and put gelcoat over the top of that.

Good luck

[Maine Sail]

Call Shep or Peter Galvin at Eastern Yacht Sales in Hingham. They know an older local guy who does great gelcoat repair. He's been doing it for years but his name escapes me. He does lots of work, or did, for Eastern Yacht Sales.

If you can get a chip of your gelcoat, about thumbnail size, Advance Coatings in Westminster, MA can very accurately color match your own gelcoat and ship you waxed or un-waxed gelcoat. They charge about $125.00 for a gallon and their minimum color match is a gallon.

For deep gouges I usually mix cabosil, polyester resin & some of the colored gelcoat to slightly tint the filler. and clean, feather & slightly overfill the gouge with it. Once cured take it back down below the surface of the gelcoat by about 1/64th of an inch, I use a Dremel for this. I then slighly overfill again with the straight waxed gelcoat. Once cured scrape any high spots down with a jewelers file, chisels or a razorblade then wet sand and buff to blend.

Be aware if doing your own repair that new gelcoats harder and less easy to sand than the surrounding old gelcoat, this is why you file or shave the high spots first and sand last otherwise you may sand through the surrounding gelcoat.

[scottyt]

Originally Posted by doctorcam

I don't think - others will probably know more about this - that gelcoat will bond well to epoxy. The opposite is true. Better to fill with polyester resin, and put gelcoat over the top of that.

Good luck

geloat over cleaned epoxy is fine, as its just cosmetic. you are right gelcoat not really do a structural bond to epoxy but it will bond enough that it wont fall off

[sailingdog]

West Systems has done extensive research into this, and published papers on it... Gelcoat, as a protective cosmetic finish, does stick well enough to epoxy resin repairs, provided the epoxy surface is properly cleaned and prepped. Epoxy resin will stick to the existing fiberglass and gelcoat far better than polyester resin...

Originally Posted by doctorcam

I don't think - others will probably know more about this - that gelcoat will bond well to epoxy. The opposite is true. Better to fill with polyester resin, and put gelcoat over the top of that.

Good luck