Restoration

[Hans Erwich]

The 1984 H27 I purchased this year needs some major repair of its gel coat. During a hurricane the boat had been rubbing midships against a piling without the benefit of fenders. The gel coat is totally gone over an area of something over a square foot. There are no deep gauges, just a large area worn off, perhaps 1/8 inch deep. The boat color is white but aged. Where do I start?? Sanding? Buy a repair kit? How do I finish? Painting? waxing?Help!

 

[A.L. ("Jim") Willis Pres of ISLAND GIRL PROD.]

It depends on money!

I think that you would first of all ascertain if any of the fiberglass structure is worn away and not just gelcoat. If enough is gone to weake structure a small patch should be glassed on, then polyester or epoxy filler. Probably some sort of template or measurement from a straight edge could be used to make sure that they are the same Then the whole thing is area is sanded with various grits to to "feather edge" and smooth the repair.If you have big bucks ($5-10,000) the anwwer is to then prime the area with polyurethane primer and then LPU the whole area (latter done by professionals) A slightly cheaper way would be to brush or roller apply somethine like interlux.The cheapest way would be to prepare the rest of the gelcoat (compounding) and the apply color-matched gelcoat to the area- again best done by a professional but you can do it yourself with professional advice and a little propellent-driven spray kit.I am sure that you'll get may other replies with details on these options and look done the list of topds to last week or so about sources of gelcoat for colormatching etc.ThanksJim W