Hell oat

J

jerry97230

New member
I opened the two cans of gellcoat that came with my boat a couple of days ago.
The white was totally hard, the grey is very thin. I put four drops of hardner in a teaspoon of grey and nothing happened after three days.
Does this require a special hardner or what.
My neighbor has a C Dory also and he had the same experience.


Jerry C22 C Nile
 
The gelcoat has a shelf life of less than 90 days, in most circumstances. I am not sure how, or if, the current factory is handling gelcoat for touch-up purposes, but you could contact them.

Jim
 
gelocat can be stored in the refrigerator to improve shelf life and activated gelcoat requires no air or anaerobic environment to cure. Cover the area with saran wrap and tape ends and will harden or spray area with PVA solution using a Preval sprayer then wash off when gelcoat has hardened
 
As Jim said, gelcoat has a shelf life. I've had it last longer than 90 days (in fact, just used some that I ordered last winter), but if it came with your boat (so is probably ten years old), then I'm not at all surprised it's not usable.

You can order it from a number of places pre-mixed to your color code (which should relieve you from the "artistic" color matching factor). Here is a list of color codes that Scot from Triton posted a while back. I used the code for the white gelcoat and the tailgate blue gelcoat and the white I can say is an excellent match for my 2002 22. I think the blue is too, but I've only used a tiny spot, so just don't have as much data on that yet.

I ordered from Gelcoat Products and had it shipped to me. I got cans of gelcoat with other, separate "ingredients," but they will also sell a gelcoat paste (which is slightly thickened and which they said has a longer shelf life) for smaller tasks. I believe Spectrum also commonly sells it. Here is the list of color codes I worked from:

1) Forest Green: Cook Composites # 953-GJ-081
2) Tailgate Blue: Cook Composites # 953-LJ-110
3) Cabarnet: Cook Composites # 953-MA-206
4) Roberts Gray: CCP # 963-AK-212
5) Black: CCP # 944-B-096
6) Cdory White Gelcoat: CCP # DX 963-WK-506
7) Cdory White Enamel: CCP # DX 948-WA-441

The CCP or Cook Composites number can be used like you would use a paint code in order to get the color from a number of different gelcoat vendors.

Sunbeam :hot

PS: I'm wondering if the thread title was a victim of Auto Correct :P
 
For small amounts you can use the Spectrum color Patch past kit: about $27.00 C-DORY WHITE 00-10

I also have found longer than 90 days--figure that most places stocking time is over a month. Cool is better, and I have kept it on the shelf Marie gives me in the Freezer with my sealants etc. Seems to last some time there...You have to let it warm up.
 
ShipShape TV had an episode on using finishing gelcoat which is gelcoat and PVA additive added together. I didnt locate it on their web site but it may be on YouTube, try search using the term Shipshape or ShipShape TV
 
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