Fill & Fair?

Jun 19, 2010
131
Oday 23 Percy Priest TN
Below is a pic of a repair I made on my boat. You can see that it's not smooth and it doesn't match the color of the hull. How do I fix that? Am I better off to just paint the whole boat? Thanks for any (good :)) advice!

PS how can I remove those dark scuff marks? I have them on the deck too. :confused:
 

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Feb 20, 2011
8,062
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
You could try acetone on the scuff marks, but, yah, I think paint's the ticket for your fill 'n fair job.
Hard to tell, but it seems as if you've got a little more filling and fairing to do. Good luck!
 
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Looks like a hull repair. What was the damage you are fixing? Just a gouge, or an honest to goodness hole? If it's a hole, did you grind it back to a feathered edge and lay in multiple thicknesses of glass to bring out to thickness? There are many interwebs tutorials on fixing a hole, even repairing a hole from an unused through-hull fitting - I've seen a few here and there.

As for those scuffs, they look like scratches in the gelcoat… Are they? If they are scuffs, some compound should get them out, unless they are deep, and then you'll be trying to wet sand them out, then compound, etc. until you've polished the whole works.

My little boat looks as if it went toe to toe with a dock piling and lost. I wet sanded and polished it a bit, until the scratches looked a bit better, but I didn't go nearly far enough to remove the scratches. What it really needs is some color matched gelcoat sprayed on and sanded smooth. Not worth the trouble for me, so I just don't look at that side of the boat. :D:D:D
 

caguy

.
Sep 22, 2006
4,004
Catalina, Luger C-27, Adventure 30 Marina del Rey
As pointed out if you want it to match the surrounding area you will have to build up and block sand until the surfaces match. To clean the scuff marks and everything else I found the greatest cleaner on earth. Actually a neighbor saw me laboring over my dink in the front yard and came by with this stuff called Super Clean. That stuff is amazing. I just got back from AutoZone where I bought a gallon of it plus another quart of the foaming kind in a spray bottle. That with a Scotch soft scrub sponge makes cleaning all marks a snap. Once the surrounding area is cleaned it may match a little closer in color. I found when I did a bow repair on my Hobe that it matched after polishing and waxing. That seems to give it a yellowish beige tinge.
Good luck.
 
Nov 5, 2010
99
Oday 23 Stonington, CT
The link R Bone sited has been my greatest teacher for restoring gel coats. However, it won't correct mis-matched color, or very uneven repairs. The hardest thing in hull repair is the matching of color, followed by proper fairing. Get the repair fair and smooth, then get a gel coat repair color kit and start experimenting to get the right color hue.
 
Jun 19, 2010
131
Oday 23 Percy Priest TN
Brian S, both spots I repaired were rub spots from the slip the boat was in. The gel coat was gone but there wasn't a hole. My thought now is to start with the bottom paint and then do this hull restore process. I want to get out on the water ASAP so my family can experience the fun of having the boat then I can start the bigger ($$$) projects. Thanks for your advice!

John
 
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
John, glad to hear it wasn't structural damage, just sorta cosmetic.

I have filled some deep gelcoat cracks on the 192 with white Marine Tex. I ground the cracks wider with a Dremel burr, then filled. It doesn't match the gelcoat color, but hey, the boat is 30 years old, I just want to keep her together! I've tried to pretty her up in other ways, and I think she's doing fine. But at least I don't have to worry about rotting out my mast step quite yet (that's where most of the cracks were. Saw same on another 192...) :D:D:D
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
Brian S, both spots I repaired were rub spots from the slip the boat was in. The gel coat was gone but there wasn't a hole. My thought now is to start with the bottom paint and then do this hull restore process. I want to get out on the water ASAP so my family can experience the fun of having the boat then I can start the bigger ($$$) projects. Thanks for your advice! John
Another idea for the hull: sand with 600 wet/dry. That will remove all the marks and scratches. Then sand with 1200 wet / dry. The hull will look very nice then. Coat the hull with acrylic coating (floor finish). Wipe on the coating VERY lightly with a sponge dampened in the floor finish, going over the whole hull 4 times. It will be shiny! On my 22ft and 27ft sailboats, the beginning was dry by the time I circled the boat, so I could just keep wiping it on. The coating will last a long time. It is water resistant, scuff resistant, and uv protected. The acrylic coating I use is ProForce / Members Mark High Gloss Commercial Floor Finish, found at Sams Club


image-513647202.jpg

Here is a picture of how my hull shines with it:


image-537854985.jpg




This will save you a day or so of toil! I have used it on two of my boats now, over several seasons, and I am completely pleased with the results.

Thanks,

Andrew
 
Nov 9, 2012
2,500
Oday 192 Lake Nockamixon
Careful with acrylic floor finishes. Although Andrew has had good results, and reports the product he uses is UV stable, I have heard that some are not UV stable, and will yellow.

New Glass 2 http://www.newglass2.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi and Poli Glow http://www.poliglow-int.com/ are two products that purport to be made for fiberglass, marine environment, and UV stable.

I have not used any of these products, just reporting what I have read. Plenty of threads on Sailboatowners.com that discuss these products...
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
Careful with acrylic floor finishes. Although Andrew has had good results, and reports the product he uses is UV stable, I have heard that some are not UV stable, and will yellow. New Glass 2 http://www.newglass2.com/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi and Poli Glow http://www.poliglow-int.com/ are two products that purport to be made for fiberglass, marine environment, and UV stable. I have not used any of these products, just reporting what I have read. Plenty of threads on Sailboatowners.com that discuss these products...
True, and I agree. I did have the luxury of testing this on a small boat for a season before doing larger boats. I would guess the fact that it is designed to be UV resistant is important.

I will post a picture of my C22 that has 1 1/2 seasons on it with the acrylic coat. It still shines, and there is no yellowing.

Remember, your results may vary! Just kidding. You can always remove this stuff by sanding with with 600 or 1200 wet/dry, and you are right back where you started.

And there are great products for marine use, but the old formula applies: if I add the word "marine" to the label... I get to charge 5x as much!

Thanks,

Andrew
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,833
Catalina 30 Mk II Cedar Creek, Bayville NJ
Remember 2 things. 1. It is only cosmetic. 2. It won't affect your sailing. 3. Once everyone is in the boat you won't see it.
OK, that is 3 things. It is still early.

I agree with JSG. Try some Acetone on those black marks. You'll be amazed at what it will clean up. As for scratches, don't worry about them if it is slowing you down getting in the water. Get the things done that are needed to sail and get out there.
When it is time to do the hull, matching the color will be the hardest thing. What I did is just follow the link already mentioned for buffing, polishing and waxing the hull that RBone listed. Don't take any shortcuts and it will look great. You don't need to buff out all the scratches, just knock the sharp edge off.
Last thing I would do is paint the hull. Paint won't cover up those ugly spots unless you spend days doing prep work.
 
Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
So true! Get out there and sail! Practical sailor newsletter is in the process of updating its dope on gelcoat repair. They seem to be deferring to info provided by MiniCraft of Florida. They sell their own formulation of gelcoat and a repair kit. Those of you who have done this can say what you think of this. It seems intense to me! I have a few dings at corners and a hole from removing a transom mounted antenna I would like to re-gel, so I would be interested in thoughts. I hear gelcoat is tricky to get a good result. ( Hope I didn't just hijack a thread, here.)

http://www.minicraft.com/retail/gcrepairkit.htm

Thanks,
Andrew
 

Ward H

.
Nov 7, 2011
3,833
Catalina 30 Mk II Cedar Creek, Bayville NJ
I don't see a hijack here, Andrew. I will look for that article in PS.
 
Jun 19, 2010
131
Oday 23 Percy Priest TN
Thanks again y'all! Is there a thread similar to what's was shared here but focused on bottom paint? Thanks!