When I bought a 1976 Catalina 30 this past season, I noted some typical dock rash and other scrapes/dings in the gelcoat and had ultimately planned on repairing myself or paying someone else to do so. However, now that the boat is on the hard and I can take a closer look, I've discovered a bunch of additional wear and chipping/cracking of gelcoat in certain areas. As shown in the attached pictures, there are numerous small chips running up the bow and along the waterline. There is also some cracking in those locations, as well as around some of the thru-hulls on the stern. So, I have a few questions:
1. How difficult/extensive a project would this be to repair myself?
2. Is there a standard gelcoat color for MKIs?
3. Is DIY color matching relatively feasible?
4. How much might I expect to pay to have these repairs made professionally? By foot? By hour? Any recommendations in the New London, CT area?
5. Is this normal wear, or representative of a bigger issue with the gelcoat or epoxy/glass underneath?
6. Am I better off leaving this alone?
I plan on wet sanding and polishing the entire topside in the Spring, so it might be best to attempt to color match gelcoat at that point. I'd like to clean all of this up, but don't want to spend more than I paid for the boat doing so..
Any advice or experience you all can share would be much appreciated.
1. How difficult/extensive a project would this be to repair myself?
2. Is there a standard gelcoat color for MKIs?
3. Is DIY color matching relatively feasible?
4. How much might I expect to pay to have these repairs made professionally? By foot? By hour? Any recommendations in the New London, CT area?
5. Is this normal wear, or representative of a bigger issue with the gelcoat or epoxy/glass underneath?
6. Am I better off leaving this alone?
I plan on wet sanding and polishing the entire topside in the Spring, so it might be best to attempt to color match gelcoat at that point. I'd like to clean all of this up, but don't want to spend more than I paid for the boat doing so..
Any advice or experience you all can share would be much appreciated.
