Help! Idiot Cracked My Gelcoat

marcham · 2025-07-24T19:43:14-0700

neuneu said:
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! View attachment 233191 View attachment 233192

Anytime there's displacement of the gelcoat (ie: more than a spider crack), something has likely failed behind it. Not guaranteed, but very likely. The proper repair here would be to grind down all the gel coat, about 1" around the cracked area and inspect the condition of the laminate. It's possible that the laminate didn't crack/tear but did separate from the underlying layer, which would significantly weaken the bow. You can only truly inspect this by grinding back all the surrounding gel coat.

I normally use a sanding pad attached to an angle grinder to take it back quickly....not a repair you want to do in the water.

Want a temporary fix until you can haul out next? Chip out the loose gel coat, bevel the edge out about 1/2" past the crack, then use a small pot of White Marine Tex. It's a creamy paste consistency that can be applied thicker than gelcoat (in one pass in your case).

Foswick · 2025-07-25T02:18:50-0700

neuneu said:
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?

It's kind of whatever works. There isn't much risk in accidentally damaging something structurally important unless you go at it with big power tools like a heavy angle grinder. But, when you go to do the repair, you will want to pry that big chip out of there. You are wanting to take this down to completely solid fiberglass and really want to see underneath to verify that chip isn't hiding something structural you need to deal with (which I doubt).

Ideally, you won't be exposing any fibers. If the damage is truly only to the gel coat, then that won't be an issue. But, I suspect you've got some non-serious damage to the underlying glass so that, by the time you remove all damaged material, you will have exposed a little bit of fiber. This is well above the water line, so that is not really a major issue. If it were below the water line, you would want to ensure the fibers are sealed before applying the gel coat.

A Dremel or some other delicate power tool is fine. I just prefer to use files/rasps and sandpaper for something like this, because you want to be careful not to go any deeper than necessary to remove any damaged/loose material.

The bottom line: You want to remove any material that isn't solid or which contains or creates cracks or voids, and not remove anything more. And, you want a nice clean/feathered edge to the cleaned-up area. However you accomplish that is up to you.

thinwater · 2025-07-25T06:02:21-0700

Relax and enjoy the summer. You are not the first on, and the water won't hurt it. Fix it on the hard, but before it gets cold.

colemj · 2025-07-25T07:10:58-0700

If you look around marinas, you will find many boats with this scar. It is a big nothing. Nothing to worry about, and you only need to repair as much as you cosmetically want to. Me? I'd probably pry off that chip, fill with marine-tex or similar, cover it with a piece of plastic sheet and smooth it to shape, pull off when set. Then forget about it for good.

There is no underlying damage that is meaningful. As someone stated, these tight areas like a bow usually have a ton of gelcoat in them (look at the thickness of that chip), and often have a void between the gelcoat and the glass because of the tight bend. Any glass behind it will just be some CSM, because that's the only fabric that easily squishes in there during build, and any structural glass will be behind that.

So you have only damaged the cosmetics, and at most you might have dislodged an insignificant piece of CSM.

Mark

marcham · 2025-07-25T07:37:45-0700

Strange... all the arm chair sailors that make a final determination and say it's only cosmetic, without having inspected the laminate and your actual boat / damage and when there's visible displacement of the gelcoat.

It may be just cosmetic, it may be separated or cracked laminate, only inspection below the surface can tell! The boat won't sink, but it's worth addressing at your next haul out and sealing for now to avoid any moisture ingress. 35 years of boat repair experience backing that up.

If in doubt, pay a pro for 30-40 minutes to take a look at it.

If you've never worked on this stuff, it's worth paying someone to patch it and look at it in more detail.... it's easy to make a mess of things with gel coat without experience, yet it can be done in such a way that the repair is invisible if done right. Kind of like drywall: A pro who does it every day will do 3 coats of mud with minimal sanding and the wall looks perfectly flat. Do it 3-4 times in our life and it take 10 times longer, tons of sanding between coats, 1/2 the mud ends up sanded off and wasted and you can still see the "wave" after painting....

Never approach anything in a boat faster than you're willing to hit it... .that is, unless it's windy, then it's balls to the wall to maintain control and steering...

Foswick · 2025-07-25T08:35:08-0700

marcham said:
Strange... all the arm chair sailors that make a final determination and say it's only cosmetic, without having inspected the laminate and your actual boat / damage and when there's visible displacement of the gelcoat.

I don't think anyone said that. The general consensus seems to be that the gel coat needs to be removed to inspect properly, but that there appears to be little cause for immediate concern based on the available information.

Don S/V ILLusion · 2025-07-25T09:17:10-0700

Foswick said:
I don't think anyone said that. The general consensus seems to be that the gel coat needs to be removed to inspect properly, but that there appears to be little cause for immediate concern based on the available information.

I’m still trying to figure out who the “arm chair sailors” are and if I’m one.

colemj · 2025-07-25T12:48:46-0700

Foswick said:
I don't think anyone said that.

That would be me. I said that, and I stand by it. I have a lot of experience with this type of damage, the underlying structure, and how this part of a boat is manufactured. I am certain it is only cosmetic. You can see the gelcoat thickness in the chip itself. Any hit heavy enough to actually do laminate damage will show that damage externally beyond the tiny confines of that chip. The pictures show no internal damage, and you can clearly see the actual structural laminate in them.

As to whether I'm an armchair sailor, I can't tell. I'm not actually sailing right now, but I'm not in an armchair. A couple of days ago I was covered in dust and resin installing new composite bulkheads in a boat. I've seen and repaired that exact bow bite countless times, was taught fiberglass work by Jan and Meade Gougeon personally, and have been doing structural and cosmetic fiberglassing for almost 40yrs.

Mark

Rick Webb · 2025-07-25T16:36:25-0700

Saw this one today
Is this like the ladies on the truck mudflaps?

rgranger · 2025-07-25T18:06:36-0700

Keel guard makes a few diff products… I have used the metal one shown in the first pic (not my boat in the pic). Turn it into a mod instead of a fix and then go sailing.

Amazon.com