Gel coat Chips dings gouges

Check with WARD on this forum, he really helped me with mine and it came out good.basscat24

I helped Adam with his boat and OBVIOUSLY he overcame my stupidity somehow. I can handle black but not flake. But I think I may branch out soon… Gelcoat is cool stuff. Love the way it smells really. Wish I could go learn how to really do this stuff from BCB someday. Heres what I have pieced together… Heres the deal- you need gelcoat and catalyst. The gelcoat you get from basscat. The catalyst you get from a boat store. The catalyst will be also listed as “MEKP”. Methyl ester ketone peroxide or something. Someone offers you PETN shop somewhere else. Mixing these two hardens gelcoat. I found this out the hard way but thats a different story….Suffice to say you can wait as long as you want but if there isnt catalyst it aint happnin. Oh and dont call Scott Estes and ask him why the gelcoat isnt dry 3 days after you do that.. You need to make sure you can get under your boat. If you cannot then you need to enlist the help of a small doctor friend to get his butt under your boat to inhale toxic gelcoat particles as he works. Dont worry when he dies his wife will be a friggin millionare anyway and then you can pick her up! You need a brush, you need 600, 800, 1000, 1200(wet) sandpaper, rubbing compound, and something like a meguiars 3 step ( wax, cleaner, light rubbing compound- a bottle of each). Maybe a magic eraser too. You also need wax paper. Most of all you need a crapload of time and patience- which I am WAAAAYYY short on. As long as they are only gelcoat chips(not into glass) what youre basically doing is applying really thick paint that hardens thanks to the MEKP- The best way to do shallow chips is to slowly build them up with gelcoat layer after layer. If there is significant depth you may want to fill with marine tex and then gelcoat on top of that. The only problem is that the gelcoat layer needs to be thick enough to sand down and not reveal the marine tex because the color wont match. So here goes… Mix gelcoat and catalyst. Mix well! Apply mix to area in question. Cover with wax paper. Gelcoat doesnt harden when exposed to air I believe. Or at least harden well. Do Not Use celophane(different story). I wonder if that has come off of dbasketmans boat yet… Should harden in a few hours. This is a temperature dependent exothermic reaction with catalyst. The garage temp is the concern here. Go do something else. Come back tommorrow and repeat. Repeat until gelcoat taller than surrounding gelcoat. Now this is where youre orthopod gets to send their kids to college with a new BMW…Thanks to you Rotator cuff repair! Get under the boat. Cover your face and eyes well. A Save Phace is useful for many things. Gently sand with 600-800 after you tape off your repair a little. Work your way finer to 1200 wet Maybe give it a litte rubbind compound then magic eraser. WHATEVER will get the previous scratches out without killing you! Basically youre buffing out your scratches from sanding it down to height Meguiars 3 step Wax the fool out of it. Now I can assure you that the master Gary Wright does it entirely different and MUCH BETTER. He sprays on gelcoat, he turns the boat upside down if needed, he knows the catalyst ration based on temp, so on and so on. The man is a pro. I am a wanna be with no time. But this will look ok until you can take your boat to the master. Done. Call the orthopod. His kid needs a new car.Last edited by clownshoes on January 9th, 2010, 12:43 am, edited 2 times in total.C.O.D. Jr. III

This is great write up Ward. Not sure if I want to tackle this project or not but at least now I know what Id be getting into. At least Im just dealing with the black boot and sealing is more important then looks cause the fish dont seem to care what the kitty looks like…. BTW – Entertaining tutorial also…. Last edited by schodackbassman on May 2nd, 2011, 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.