Gel coat

[ent228]

Hi all,

This isn't really about old boats, but I'll ask here anyway....

A Sonar keel boat I'm looking after has a scratch through the gel coat into the laminate. It's years since I had a glass boat to deal with and I've forgotten how to replace gelcoat. Any one have any advice or good links?

[jon711]

Hack any dirt out of the scratch. Gel coat is just like a very thick paint, after hacking the dirt out, soak the scratch in acetone, then just apply the gel coat (remembering to mix the gel with catalyst first!). A bit of masking tape left over the scratch, will hold the gel in, and aslo make it easier to clean up after. Once gelcoat has cured ( give it at least 24 hrs), use a sharp cabinet scraper to bring the gel coat down to the same level as the orginal surface. Then it's increasing finer grades of wet and dry until you use a polishing compound.

Jon

[jpa_wfsc]

You do not have to wait 24 hrs - a hair dryer (low heat setting) or any other DRY warm air source blowing over the gel once applied, will allow you to get onto the finishing processes in about one hour, and with no long term effects on the repair quality. Indeed without enough temperature the gel will not harden at all and you can wait for ever with no setting below a certain temp - exact temps depend on the gel used so RTM.

j./