Gel coat repair for dummy's

C

capt. meares

New member
I have always had an aluminum boat and have been transitioning to fiberglass maintenance and repair for only about a 6 months (since I bought my 22 cruiser last November.) With this in mind I would like to hear from everyone the simplest ways to make the various drilled holes through out my boat disappear. I have removed all the different mounted equipment that I will never use, and have properly repaired all the drilled holes with seacast and or west six-10. I have a few unnecessary thu-hulls I want to fill in as well.

I would really like to learn to do a good job in making these repaired holes go unnoticed but do not know the best way to do it. An employee at West Marine suggested I just "cover them with a good marine paint and buff it out". From all of my research I am led to believe it is not going to be that simple. I would be very interested in simple methods other people have used for this same type of project that a rookie like me could tackle. Thank you.
 
There may be something to the advice given to you at the West Marine store. The general feeling is that gel coat over epoxy does not work well. This is not entirely true. However, painting and buffing/ combo gel coat and paint is not a great idea….

You have to be sure that all of the amines on the surface of the epoxy are dispensed with. Wash well, with soap and water, rinse, then sand with 220. At this point, you should be able either paint the gel coat over the area you have repaired. I would use C-dory White: Cook Composites # DX 963-WK-506 You want to be sure you have fresh gel coat, because it deteriorates rwith heat and time. Unfortunately gel coat you buy at West Marine etc often is several years or more older.

If the gel coat is unwaxed, you have to cover it with an occlusive material--either Saran wrap Mylar sheeting, or spray P V A (Poly Vinyl Alcohol--a mold coating compound). After the gel coat has cured for 48 hours, you starting sanding, starting with very light at 220, working up to 1000, then polishing compound and wax to the finish.

If you are not getting a good "tie" there are several primers which can be used between the epoxy and gel coat.

I have never used "sea Cast" for repair. I believe that it is a polyester based product, so you should just sand it down, and go.
 
iboats.com has the Spectrum Color gel coat repair kit for C-Dory white on sale for $21.24 right now. Item number is F5517000K. Looks like it is aimed at model years since 2000 or so. According to the Don Casey instructions reproduced elsewhere on the C-Dory site, some color matching is still likely to be needed, but you expected that, right?
 
At one point several of us took a "class" with the old owners of C-Dory at their Ferndale plant (Scott @ Triton Marine). I used what I learned to repair the holes in the transom when I moved our swim-step to port from the starboard mounting location.

The finishing process was the toughest even though the factory supplied matching white gelcoat mixed w/ proper amount of thinner along w/ speed cure . I sprayed it using a Preval sprayer, as recommended. Followed by wet sanding and buffing. Came out OK and I knew nothing about the process. I think the hardest part is a) getting the proper gelcoat, b) mixing it w/ the proper thinner/speed cure ratio and 3) spraying it on properly as to not have a run yet have enough coverage AND make it look professional.

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?...ame=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
 
For small areas, I prefer brush application of the gel coat. Part of the issue is as pointed out, you really don't want to thin gelcoat too much. Remember that gelcoat has to either have wax in the product, have an occlusive layer of wax sprayed on (PVA with the Preval sprayer) or cover with occlusive, (Mylar or other occlusive membane).

I buy some of the fairly cheap artists brushes in a set--better quality than the small bristle metal handled brush.
 
Been doing this boat stuff for a while, I have some skill but I've learned to let someone do gelcoat that does it for a living, if your just doing screw holes fine but when you want a larger area and you want to bearly notice it let a pro handel gelcoat I learned the HARD way.
 
Back
Top