Help! Idiot Cracked My Gelcoat

[neuneu]

I came into my slip a little hot yesterday and cracked the gelcoat on the bow of my Hunter 27.

I figured I shouldn’t take my boat out till I get it fixed but am curious about the best way.

Ive seen some gelcoat repairs that are on the more labor intensive side (grinding down, filling, sanding.) And others which are basically a one step paste (Evercoat repair kit).

I want to do it right but would ideally not have to haul out. Hope someone can offer some help. thanks a bunch!

 

[Davidasailor26]

That’s not that big of a big deal. I wouldn’t worry about sailing or anything else with it like that. There’s probably no core there or anything else to be harmed by a bit of water exposure. You don’t want to leave it like that indefinitely, and it would be worse in a place with freeze/thaw cycles, but short term not a showstopper.

For the repair you’ll need to start by grinding away anything cracked. If that’s no deeper than the gelcoat you can just fair it with some polyester fairing compound and then cover with color matched gelcoat. If you go well past the gelcoat into the fiberglass laminate you’ll need to build it back up with new fiberglass or maybe something like structural repair putty, that’s basically polyester filled with some glass fibers. If you can get close enough to the area to reach it and use power tools safely I don’t see any reason not to do the repair in the water.

Check out the Boatworks Today YouTube channel, including his gelcoat related playlists, for lots of tips.

 

[Foswick]

The good news is that I think you are correct that there is no structural damage. What I would do is remove the damaged gel coat to take a look underneath, just to verify. But, I think you're fine.

The first trick to this repair is doing it in the water without contaminating the water. Please do make every effort to catch your sanding mess and not just let it go in the water. Not using power tools will help, and frankly, this isn't really a power tool sort of job anyway.

The second trick is just matching the gel coat color. White is never white - it is white-ish. If you are OK with close-enough, then this is a really simple repair. The repaired spot will be whiter than the surrounding area. If you want the repair to be invisible, you will need to color match, which can be tricky.

You'll want to sand the damaged area to remove any loose material. You'll also want your sanded area to feather out over the healthy gel coat ... maybe about a quarter-inch to half-inch. Clean the damaged area and immediate surrounding area with acetone, wipe off, and repeat a couple of times. There could be wax, which you do not want under your repair.

If the damage is relatively thin ... let's say 1/4" ... you can just fill with new gel coat. If the damage is deeper but not structural, you might want to fill with filler to get the depth closer to 1/8" - 1/4", then when that is cured, sand and gel coat over that.

The key is to not leave loose material under your new material, to only apply new material onto roughened surfaces, and not to leave voids (air pockets) under your new material. If you follow that, you're nearly done.

Once everything is cured, just wet sand with increasingly fine sandpaper until your repair is blended smoothly. This is the part where environmental stewardship gets tricky. There is a good chance your marina will frown on you doing this at all. But, if you do it, you might try taping a "bib" around the bow with something like Gorilla tape and securing something like a milk jug under a hole in the bottom so that bib acts as a basin to funnel the wastewater into the jug. Wetsanding doesn't take much water - just a trickle - so you can be conservative.

 

[dlochner]

This will be easier to work on when the boat is out of the water, in the meantime get one of these:

 

[Rich Stidger]

This doesn't look like a big deal. What I would do is this- It's the middle of the season, and I would not like to do this repair in the water. So I would simply cover the entire bruised area with a silicone caulk to seal it from water intrusion. Then after haul-out in the fall, work on a ladder to make the correct repair as others have suggested. You are going to remove all of the silicone caulk so there should be no adhesion issues with the new material that you will apply.
For now, just cover and go sailing. And go easy with the throttle when docking!

 

[Foswick]

Rich makes a fair suggestion about just covering it up and dealing with it later. However, I wouldn't use silicone, only because it is really hard to get off and nothing sticks to it. If you are going to cover and procrastinate, you could just cover with epoxy filler, which won't cause bonding problems later, if you don't get every little bit off. But, to put that advice into perspective, I am zealously anti-silicone, on boats. I have a special voodoo curse I perform when I go to remove a part and find that a previous owner has used silicone.

To be honest, if I knew I was going to deal with it in the fall, I might just leave it entirely. You're not going to suffer any water intrusion related problems in the next couple of months that won't be dealt with when you grind out the damage in the fall and dry things out. As others have said, this isn't serious, provided you deal with it fairly soon and don't let it go a year or so.

I, personally, would not try to do this in the water. Maybe if it was nearer the deck, but just knowing myself, if I had to deal with this repair in the water, I wouldn't do it properly.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Surprised no one suggested looking at the area from inside the anchor locker before simply assuming it’s only superficial.

 

[Tally Ho]

My buddy hit the dock when a crewman failed to get a line on a cleat (and didn’t say anything…until they hit the dock pretty hard). Chipped his bow just like that. He put some white tape over it (so he doesn’t see it every time he comes out) and plans to do the repair in the fall once he hauls out.

Greg

 

[neuneu]

I

Surprised no one suggested looking at the area from inside the anchor locker before simply assuming it’s only superficial.

I just checked and it looks solid to me. Take a look as well since im a noob.

 

[neuneu]

The good news is that I think you are correct that there is no structural damage. What I would do is remove the damaged gel coat to take a look underneath, just to verify. But, I think you're fine.

The first trick to this repair is doing it in the water without contaminating the water. Please do make every effort to catch your sanding mess and not just let it go in the water. Not using power tools will help, and frankly, this isn't really a power tool sort of job anyway.

The second trick is just matching the gel coat color. White is never white - it is white-ish. If you are OK with close-enough, then this is a really simple repair. The repaired spot will be whiter than the surrounding area. If you want the repair to be invisible, you will need to color match, which can be tricky.

You'll want to sand the damaged area to remove any loose material. You'll also want your sanded area to feather out over the healthy gel coat ... maybe about a quarter-inch to half-inch. Clean the damaged area and immediate surrounding area with acetone, wipe off, and repeat a couple of times. There could be wax, which you do not want under your repair.

If the damage is relatively thin ... let's say 1/4" ... you can just fill with new gel coat. If the damage is deeper but not structural, you might want to fill with filler to get the depth closer to 1/8" - 1/4", then when that is cured, sand and gel coat over that.

The key is to not leave loose material under your new material, to only apply new material onto roughened surfaces, and not to leave voids (air pockets) under your new material. If you follow that, you're nearly done.

Once everything is cured, just wet sand with increasingly fine sandpaper until your repair is blended smoothly. This is the part where environmental stewardship gets tricky. There is a good chance your marina will frown on you doing this at all. But, if you do it, you might try taping a "bib" around the bow with something like Gorilla tape and securing something like a milk jug under a hole in the bottom so that bib acts as a basin to funnel the wastewater into the jug. Wetsanding doesn't take much water - just a trickle - so you can be conservative.

I was initially thinking about using my dremel and keeping a shop vacuum right next to it the whole time. I do it at work in dust sensitive environments and it works pretty well. The bib idea is great for wetsanding, I was planning to just wipe with paper towels once excess material started to build up but that would be a solid backup.

At this point I am more leaning towards a temporary fix and then waiting till I am dry docked to do it the right way and not worry about upsetting anyone.

All the videos I saw typically used dremels. What hand tools would you use for this? A file?

I tried picking at it with my fingernails and the piece of gel coat is still solidly attached. Id probably have to use a flathead screwdriver to pry it out and that seems like not a great idea. In that case would you recommend leaving it or is there a more gentle solution?

Thanks a bunch for the write up

 

[neuneu]

I

That’s not that big of a big deal. I wouldn’t worry about sailing or anything else with it like that. There’s probably no core there or anything else to be harmed by a bit of water exposure. You don’t want to leave it like that indefinitely, and it would be worse in a place with freeze/thaw cycles, but short term not a showstopper.

For the repair you’ll need to start by grinding away anything cracked. If that’s no deeper than the gelcoat you can just fair it with some polyester fairing compound and then cover with color matched gelcoat. If you go well past the gelcoat into the fiberglass laminate you’ll need to build it back up with new fiberglass or maybe something like structural repair putty, that’s basically polyester filled with some glass fibers. If you can get close enough to the area to reach it and use power tools safely I don’t see any reason not to do the repair in the water.

Check out the Boatworks Today YouTube channel, including his gelcoat related playlists, for lots of tips.

Thanks for the response. It rarely gets below 50°F where I am so that is a relief I dont have to worry about that.

If it does go into the fiberglass I would definitely prefer to use a putty instead of laying up sheets. Especially If i decide to do the repair in the water.

I’ll definitely check out Boatworks, I was watching a bunch of youtube videos on gelcoat repair but I dont think I saw any of theirs.

 

[neuneu]

My buddy hit the dock when a crewman failed to get a line on a cleat (and didn’t say anything…until they hit the dock pretty hard). Chipped his bow just like that. He put some white tape over it (so he doesn’t see it every time he comes out) and plans to do the repair in the fall once he hauls out.

Greg

Honestly this is what I may do. Find some strong marine grade tape and call it good till haul out. Glad I can only blame myself lol.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

I

I just checked and it looks solid to me. Take a look as well since im a noob.

hard to tell for sure if what I enlarged is dirt or a crack

 

[neuneu]

Rich makes a fair suggestion about just covering it up and dealing with it later. However, I wouldn't use silicone, only because it is really hard to get off and nothing sticks to it. If you are going to cover and procrastinate, you could just cover with epoxy filler, which won't cause bonding problems later, if you don't get every little bit off. But, to put that advice into perspective, I am zealously anti-silicone, on boats. I have a special voodoo curse I perform when I go to remove a part and find that a previous owner has used silicone.

To be honest, if I knew I was going to deal with it in the fall, I might just leave it entirely. You're not going to suffer any water intrusion related problems in the next couple of months that won't be dealt with when you grind out the damage in the fall and dry things out. As others have said, this isn't serious, provided you deal with it fairly soon and don't let it go a year or so.

I, personally, would not try to do this in the water. Maybe if it was nearer the deck, but just knowing myself, if I had to deal with this repair in the water, I wouldn't do it properly.

I have had my fair share of bad experiences with silicone sealant as well, so I would probably go for some kind of epoxy.

I could definitely get close enough to comfortably do a repair but may wait regardless.
I wasn’t planning on a haul out this fall but if this expedites it thats life.

 

[neuneu]

hard to tell for sure if what I enlarged is dirt or a crackView attachment 233201

Wiped it down with a rag. It was just dirt. Thanks for taking a close up look.

Aside from that It looks solid to you from the inside?

 

[shemandr]

I think it's an on the hard repair.
I'm stupid enough to dangle my legs over the dock and use a power tool to grind away the damaged area. Not bragging ...
Meanwhile I think some white Gorilla Tape would do.

 

[Alan Gomes]

At this point I am more leaning towards a temporary fix and then waiting till I am dry docked to do it the right way and not worry about upsetting anyone.

How about a quick repair with Marine-Tex? Using white would probably give you a close enough match to where you wouldn't even notice it. Then, when you haul out, you could easily Dremel it out and do a better repair if you wanted.

 

[Rick Webb]

My buddy hit the dock when a crewman failed to get a line on a cleat (and didn’t say anything…until they hit the dock pretty hard). Chipped his bow just like that. He put some white tape over it (so he doesn’t see it every time he comes out) and plans to do the repair in the fall once he hauls out.

Greg

I was thinking a bumper sticker or one of those free stickers they seem to handout everywhere

 

[shemandr]

For the repair you’ll need to start by grinding away anything cracked. If that’s no deeper than the gelcoat you can just fair it with some polyester fairing compound and then cover with color matched gelcoat. If you go well past the gelcoat into the fiberglass laminate you’ll need to build it back up with new fiberglass or maybe something like structural repair putty, that’s basically polyester filled with some glass fibers. If you can get close enough to the area to reach it and use power tools safely I don’t see any reason not to do the repair in the water.
Check out the Boatworks Today YouTube channel, including his gelcoat related playlists, for lots of tips.

Sometimes in laying up a hull the fiberglass doesn't closely cover the gelcoat in areas of particularly big bends - like a bow. So there may be a gap between the gelcoat and underlying laminate. That gap may extend north and south of the wound to an unknown extent.
I would say don't get too ambitious about exposing all of any defect. Get rid of the loose stuff and get out. You need enough fill to support the new gelcoat which should be pretty thin -like layer of paint.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Wiped it down with a rag. It was just dirt. Thanks for taking a close up look.

Aside from that It looks solid to you from the inside?

In that case, it looks like nothing more than an external cosmetic repair job.

reminds me of the old coast guard adage - “if you’re gonna hit it, hit it with the bow.“