The admiral decided to use some gelcoat scratch cover to fill some scratches and gouges on the hull. The instructions say to use acetone to clean the area prior to using the gelcoat putty. So, she was very thorough in making sure the area (and 2" adjacent) were clean! Now I have very white areas on the otherwise off-white hull. What happened? Is there anything I can do to make the hull one color again? Did I damage the gelcoat by using the acetone? AAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
*yks Acetone + Gelcoat = New Color ???????
- Thread starter RicTrim
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Probably not
Most likely, you have one very clean spot on an otherwise "dirty" hull. The acetone itself (so long as it is not left on the gelcoat for long periods of time) shouldn't harm the boat. I have used acetone any number of times on my boat; to remove duct tape residue, to clean off spilled cetol, etc. The stuff evaporates too quickly to harm the gelcoat. Is the gelcoat scratch material the thing that is a different color than the rest of the hull? That wouldn't surprise me at all as it would be highly unlikely that the color of the scratch material would exactly match the color of your old, partially oxidized hull. My bet is that the areas cleaned by the acetone will match the rest of the hull within a few weeks as the dirt and sun take their toll.
Most likely, you have one very clean spot on an otherwise "dirty" hull. The acetone itself (so long as it is not left on the gelcoat for long periods of time) shouldn't harm the boat. I have used acetone any number of times on my boat; to remove duct tape residue, to clean off spilled cetol, etc. The stuff evaporates too quickly to harm the gelcoat. Is the gelcoat scratch material the thing that is a different color than the rest of the hull? That wouldn't surprise me at all as it would be highly unlikely that the color of the scratch material would exactly match the color of your old, partially oxidized hull. My bet is that the areas cleaned by the acetone will match the rest of the hull within a few weeks as the dirt and sun take their toll.
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