How to repair a thin spot.
- Thread starter Jfelkins
- Start date
- Status
The first thing to do is determine exactly how much wear has happened. Take a thin stave like a yard stick and bend it across the blemish and see how big the gap is underneath. I suspect that you just have gellcoat damage.
Gelcoat
I haven't tried this, but I have some little tubes of gelcoat touchup that I've used just for a spot or hole here or there. Might be that this stuff could work on slightly larger areas if spread thinly (and probably a couple coats) with a little plastic putty knife. Could try to talk someone else into trying it first on their boat...
I haven't tried this, but I have some little tubes of gelcoat touchup that I've used just for a spot or hole here or there. Might be that this stuff could work on slightly larger areas if spread thinly (and probably a couple coats) with a little plastic putty knife. Could try to talk someone else into trying it first on their boat...
Look up Tap Plastics gel coat repair on You Tube. Has a very nice explaination on gelcoat repair. If it is fairly deep in the middle of the Dock Rash area, use epoxy to build it up. Then a layer of gelcoat, sand, compound, polish, then wax. You can do it in the water but I'd be real hard. It should go without saying do not attempt to do it with power tools if its still in the water.
Edit: After looking closer, you might wanna pull the boat and do the whole hull if you want a uniform appearance. Otherwise you'll have a sweet looking repair on an otherwise dirty hull and you may have need of more gelcoat repair e.g nicks and gouges that can't be seen in the pic. If it were me... I'd repair the offending spot in the water and do the hull during the "off season." No sense in wasting perfectly good sailing time
Disclaimer: I am not an expert and this advice is worth what you paid for it.
Edit: After looking closer, you might wanna pull the boat and do the whole hull if you want a uniform appearance. Otherwise you'll have a sweet looking repair on an otherwise dirty hull and you may have need of more gelcoat repair e.g nicks and gouges that can't be seen in the pic. If it were me... I'd repair the offending spot in the water and do the hull during the "off season." No sense in wasting perfectly good sailing time
Disclaimer: I am not an expert and this advice is worth what you paid for it.
You can easily repair gelcoat using various 'repair kits', etc. First, you should clean and 'etch' the hull with oxalic acid to ensure that the 'color' is correct for 'matching' with the new gel. All 'white' gel isnt necessarily 'white' as over time it may have picked up 'tints' of color, etc.
You can find lots of web articles on how to repair, quite an easy job if you are 'fastidious'. Briefly, you build up the 'scar' until flat with polyester if 'deep', and then coat with gelcoat let cure, sand the gel down until flat .... and for the best repair, use selfcontained spray bottles (Preval, etc. http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...t.do?pid=2155&familyName=Preval+Spray+Gun+Kit ) and spray on the diluted gelcoat, then flat sand with the appropriate wet and dry paper, then power buff, etc.
There's a high learning curve with gel repair and spraying gel with the 'disposable' spray bottles; but, once you learn it ... it becomes quite quick and easy.
Caution: such gel coat repair can become addictive, and you might want to do an very extensive repair on an older boat.
Good gel coat repair is vastly superior to 'painting'.
You can find lots of web articles on how to repair, quite an easy job if you are 'fastidious'. Briefly, you build up the 'scar' until flat with polyester if 'deep', and then coat with gelcoat let cure, sand the gel down until flat .... and for the best repair, use selfcontained spray bottles (Preval, etc. http://www.jamestowndistributors.co...t.do?pid=2155&familyName=Preval+Spray+Gun+Kit ) and spray on the diluted gelcoat, then flat sand with the appropriate wet and dry paper, then power buff, etc.
There's a high learning curve with gel repair and spraying gel with the 'disposable' spray bottles; but, once you learn it ... it becomes quite quick and easy.
Caution: such gel coat repair can become addictive, and you might want to do an very extensive repair on an older boat.
Good gel coat repair is vastly superior to 'painting'.
This is great thanks. I have the boat out of the water and will plan to make this repair. I like the idea of fixing this spot and doing more during the winter. We just got this boat and I want to get it out on the water and get my family excited about sailing. The attached photo is our storage "unit." We really got lucky here. It's free to keep the boat here.
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
Attachments
As someone that just purchased a 'fixer-upper' myself I've read a lot about fiberglass repair. You're plan to enjoy the boat now during the season and do repairs off season is a good one, assuming of course, the boat is sound.
You need to determine if the affected area is structurally OK. If it's only gel coat damage then a little paint to seal out the aqua will suffice for now. If due to pounding against the pier the area is soft (as is more flexible that then undamaged hull next to it) then it will be a judgment call on your part. Soft spots are more of a problem on the deck or near the mast and should be addressed because you walk on the deck causing re-injury and eventual delamination and /or cracks. On the hull, so long as your remedied the pier pounding situation and assuming no cracks or bubbles I'm sure it can wait.
I've got Don Casey's book "This Old Boat" - a classic fixer-upper guide. I highly recommend you get his book or one like it - it will come in handy for all sorts of projects.
As an aside - I'm trying to get my family excited about sailing also, my wife is game but my daughter hates/fears boats - even thought she has never been on a boat!
Thanks,
I too have Don Caseys book. Great stuff. I like cross referencing here for two reasons. One, to make sure I understand and two this community is really helpful and smart. Thanks to all.
Does anyone know what kind of boat Don Casey has? He has pictures of it in his book but I can't find where he tells what make and model it is. Thanks!
I too have Don Caseys book. Great stuff. I like cross referencing here for two reasons. One, to make sure I understand and two this community is really helpful and smart. Thanks to all.
Does anyone know what kind of boat Don Casey has? He has pictures of it in his book but I can't find where he tells what make and model it is. Thanks!
my yacht builkder said to use wax paper over it--squeegy it --make sur eeno air gets in there and is good to go --take paper off when dry and cured.
love the wings on your dog---looks like he wants to fly like my kat..LOL...
love the wings on your dog---looks like he wants to fly like my kat..LOL...
Where I have done repairs and not painted them, I have spots that are over an 1" thick that you can see light through. It's not an indication that it's thin, just translucent.
Fiberglass laminations and lighter gelcoats are naturally translucent. The darkness you're seeing in the chafed area is stripe and backup gelcoat. Hulls are made from the outside in. After masking the stripes, the hull color is sprayed in the mold first, the masking is pulled and the darker stripe gelcoat is sprayed over the entire hull, supplanted with a greyish backup gelcoat amalgamated from drum remnants. The only place the dark color shows through is where the masking was. The darker backup prevents light from showing through.
The chafe by itself should not be an issue assuming - as posted earlier - it's not an indication of deeper damage.
Experienced in both paint and gelcoat, it's my opinion that painting is a Helluva lot easier. The entire hull can be painted in a few of days, I just did it on my recent haulout. I would have preferred to spray the paint but the yard prohibited it so I was reduced to rolling and tipping. Pic attached. Hauled out on a Friday, pic was taken Sunday afternoon.
Attachments
- Status