Gel Coat Repair

[houstonshark]

We have had a few mishaps this season while loading the boat onto the trailer. The first involved the prop, my wife's itchy throttle hand and the trailer...the trailer won. The end result was a new prop, prop shaft, etc.

The last 2 mishaps happened while loading the boat at ramps we were not familiar with. The private ramp we normally use is very shallow so I have to back the trailer down pretty deep in order to get the boat on and off the trailer.

A couple months ago we were on a different ramp that was much deeper. I backed the trailer down where I normally would based on the front bunks being submerged. Because the ramp was much deeper, one of the guide poles floated off. My wife picked it up in the boat and rather than handing it to me to put back on after pulling the trailer up the ramp a little more, I just had her pull the boat up on the trailer.

I connected the bow strap and winched the boat up but without the guide pole in place the boat started to float off to that side. I straightened the boat up a little, disconnected the bow strap and asked my wife to pull the boat off so that I could put the guide pole back on and pull the trailer a little further up the ramp.

As she backed off, heard a bump and a scratching sound as the boat hit the guide pole mount. It took a little chunk out of the gel coat at the bottom of the transom and left a nice scratch most of the way down the hull. It was not a happy ride home.

Yesterday we were using the public ramp since the private ramp we normally use had just been resurfaced. My wife pulled the boat up on to the trailer and got a little crooked (which she often does). Normally, rather than have her back up and try again (which stresses her and makes the loading not very fun), I let the hull hit the bow bunks and it either straightens itself or I straighten it myself.

Well, this ramp is really deep and since the trailer was so deep in the water, the hull missed the bunks, kept going before I could stop it and the V of the hull rubbed on the trailer. It knocked the gel coat on the V off, exposing the fiberglass for about a 6-8" section. I know everyone wants to see pics but I didn't take any, sorry.

I'm thinking the repairs will be fairly easy for me to do myself. The one on the transom will suck as it is right where the bunk is, but I may be able to just drop the boat in the water and slide it off the trailer about 6" and load it back up. As long as the bow strap is secured are there any issues with that if I am just towing it about 300 yards?

I dont expect the V part of the bow to be that difficult either. I thought about just filling it with Dynaglass (or whatever would be used for Marine applications) and then using a piece of aluminum angle with mold release applied to form the V.

Any thoughts or input? Can the Spectrum Color Gel Coat be sprayed?

[houstonshark]

Well, I just read Grant's thread on gel coat repair on WW and am feeling pretty confident. I ordered the small patch past kit from Spectrum.

[turbonine]

Well, I just read Grant's thread on gel coat repair on WW and am feeling pretty confident. I ordered the small patch past kit from Spectrum.

Let me know how it goes. The corner of my transom took a surfboard and it made a small nic in the gel.

I also have an all white boat, so it will be a good to see your results.

[WakerideN]

if you build up under it, with other material that is not white.. leave at least .020-.030 or it will show through the white or affect the color of it. not a big factor on dark colors. but on white it will affect your results.

the bottom pics you can see the damage this boat had. all easily fixed. http://www.tigeowners.com//forum/sho...light=gcombe74

[houstonshark]

Gotcha. What's the max thickness the gel coat should be? It seemed like the section near the bow would need to be filled more than the 'thickness of a nickel' I've read about.

[WakerideN]

I usually just mate up to the thickness of what the factory had.. build up to the gel depth that you had.. then cote from there. but most important break those sharp edges all the way around it... I like to turn them into 45 degrees with a razor blade so that when you cover them up and sand down they are seem-less. for the V area on your hull, I use some plastic .. its like 10 bucks for a roll at home depot in the carpet dept. its like a carpet\hard surface covering protectant.. its got a very light adhesive on the one side..

once you get it built up and have the final layer on use a piece of that... cut it a decent size.. and put it over it and pull tight..usually gives you a great surface that is flat and even and less sanding.... and matches up the shape of the rest of that leading edge pretty close to perfect.. should work better then a piece of metal since you will be pulling it tight and sticking it to the hull around it.

[whiteflash watersports]

I would stop backing in so far at the ramp.

[Dave S]

TJ,

I had a very similar experience as far as the guide pad floating off, then the boat rubbed against the metal pole while it was still hooked to trailer. Boat rocked back and forth and put a long vertical scratch in the boat, through gel coat right down to fiberglass. Not one of my happier moments. I put MarineTex in it to fill it temporarily. We tried messing with Gelcoat but didn't have much luck. The marinetex worked until I could get it up to Brandon for next service. He has an awesome gelcoat guy, I saw some insane repairs that guy has done and they looked great.

[houstonshark]

I would stop backing in so far at the ramp.

Good call but the front bunks on our custom aluminum c-channel trailer are a little high and so I have to back it down pretty far usually.

[talltigeguy]

I've got a thread somewhere on here about a repair that I did. The spectrum didn't match up perfectly, and is still visible on Bad 05's boat. Even though I supposedly had the exact right color.

I would do the least conspicuous one first and get it all sanded and polished before I tackled the other 2.

[rensink]

Good call but the front bunks on our custom aluminum c-channel trailer are a little high and so I have to back it down pretty far usually.

General rule of thumb we teach new boaters is right to the top of the front fender's and then just power off but to having worked with a ton of trailers each one is different and can involve their unique challenge when loading/unloading.

Having done some small gel work before just take your time and work one by one maybe do a small test piece or small area to ensure the colors match cause each manufacture uses different shades which can make it a real pain when matching. Like said just go slow

[houstonshark]

I took a couple pics today. It's not as bad as I remembered it being. I don't think it needs any sort of filler. Looks like just the gel coat will do.

Anyone know what the black part is between the white gel and fiberglass? Is a thin layer of gel coat always applied in black before the actual colored gel or is this some sort of sealer?

[Ewok]

Gel coat is the first thing sprayed on a boat mold, they work from outside to inside so the black layer would have been added after the gel coat. It's probably a thin layer of gelcoat to set up a consistent or to ensure a minimum thickness in the gel coat.

[Heffs08rz2]

Gel coat is the first thing sprayed on a boat mold, they work from outside to inside so the black layer would have been added after the gel coat. It's probably a thin layer of gelcoat to set up a consistent or to ensure a minimum thickness in the gel coat.

Not true had a tour at the factory yesterday and the first thing sprayed in was the paint then the gel coat. I was amazed myself to find this out.

[WakerideN]

Not true had a tour at the factory yesterday and the first thing sprayed in was the paint then the gel coat. I was amazed myself to find this out.

you sure that was not mold release? that would make a bit more sense?