I've got some cracks in my gelcoat plus I also have pieces missing where I can see the fiberglass. How do I know whether I should use gelcoat repair or something stronger like marine tex ???Plus ,what would you use to give rippled affect to the finished repair?
Dilemma???
- Thread starter paulh1
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Depending on the non-skid pattern it might be very do-able but it takes some special knowledge (that I picked up from a touch-up expert when I worked at Columbia/Coronado Yachts). I have friends with a 1984 Hunter 31 and with their pattern I was able to do a similar repair that cannot be detected. We just might be able to talk you through it.
Questions:
- Can you provide a close up picture of the damaged area including the adjoining non-skid?
- What experience do you have working with fiberglass materials in general?
I have cracks in both the smooth and non skid Some small portions of the smooth are open about the size of a quarter. I've done Marine Tex on some larger openings in the finish. Learned a lot from that :-(. I know that color matching is a big issue. Since the boat is 16 years old I hope to just get close.
I have used bondo on fiberglass for a few years now and had great results. If it is good enough for a Corvett it should be good enough for a Hunter. color matching then becomes a paint issue. As for the pattern, you can go the "make a mold" route or try and recreate it with tools. Kinda depends on the pattern wither one or the other would be easier.
The best repair is with gelcoat, and for similar repairs I had the best results with Evercoat's One-step Finish gel coat, which doesn't require covering and release agent. It is tricky to match colour...
For repairs to non-skid, you can buy small silicone molds that recreate the most popular non-skids like the diamond pattern. You might even have good luck making your own mold from existing non-skid, using some bathtub silicone and a release agent.
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