Chip in gelcoat

[Floridaman79]

I couldnt find colored gelcoat from spectrum for it. The paint is tri coat which was easy to find. It'll just take a few days to let it dry and wet sand. Personally I'm comfortable with the paint. And by "comfortable" I mean "overconfident"

 

[Floridaman79]

Past the point of no return now. Used west system 101 to fill the chip. Later will base coat, top coat, and clear. My philosophy here is to not turn a half inch problem into a 6 inch problem....

 

[tdonoughue]

Can you brief us on the process? Any tips you learned?

 

[Floridaman79]

In hindsight I should have made sure everything turned out ok before I posted, but too late now! So the research I did on the waverunners is that they are a painted finish. The dealer also confirmed this and had the factory paint colors. It uses a base coat a top coat and a clear. The base, top, and clear cost me about a hundred bucks. I ordered the base in a touch up brush bottle and the others in aerosol. My rationale is that I'll wet sand the base coat, top coat will be shot followed by the clear without sanding. I used epoxy, also based on research on the waverunners. The epoxy comes in a packet with the resin and harder pre mixed. It also comes in a filler. I just followed the directions which is to mix the resin and harder, wet the surface, then add filler to the mixed epoxy, then apply over the wetted surface. Applying was pretty straightforward, but the filler seems to slow the cure time considerably. In the mixing pan the pure epoxy kicked off into a smoking brick after about 15 minutes, and the side with the filler is much slower to cure. I hope thats not an indication of a problem but the directions were followed to a T. So far the hardest part is not touching it once you've determined enough is enough.

 

[tdonoughue]

Excellent! No need to wait until the end; we like ongoing updates. They get us the information as it happens and much more detail. Keep up with the updates!

Determining enough is enough: always an issue in finish repairs... Sigh.

 

[Floridaman79]

Excellent! No need to wait until the end; we like ongoing updates. They get us the information as it happens and much more detail. Keep up with the updates!

Determining enough is enough: always an issue in finish repairs... Sigh.

We had a saying where I used to work that better is the enemy of good enough, and there's a lot of truth in it. I don't know how many times I keep trying to work something and end up making it worse, especially when blending products that cure . Its better just to walk away with enough left to sand down.

Also I think I figured out the epoxy curing difference with the filler. I just added filler to a small amount, the larger part that cured fast was too hot to touch. I think the heat generation is what cured it so fast. The thin areas are curing about the same with filler vs no filler.

 

[Floridaman79]

Trials and tribulations today. Was feeling pretty good when I got the base coat on and wet sanded with 400 grit. Struggling with the paint at the moment though.

 

[Floridaman79]

Calling this one complete (almost). I am not completely happy with how the paint color turned out but I'm calling it good enough. All that's left is to blend the clearcoat and buff it.

 

[mrcleanr6]

To do a repair be it waverunner or car, you need to blend it out and not keep it in a small spot. That paint should have been feathered out prob 3-4” to each side of the repair then the clear goes another 3-4” beyond that. If you havent cleared it yet you can still do that. You just need to make sure you scotchbrite and dull the surface way beyond the repair area so your not spraying paint on an unprepped shiny surface. If you do the clear is going to peel

 

[Floridaman79]

I intentionally left it small so I didn't grow a half inch problem into a 6 inch problem! I did spray the clear already and prepped by wet sanding with 800 grit.

 

[mrcleanr6]

yeah i know its tough. its human nature i think to want to keep that thing tiny. every painter i think has a tendency to want to do that HOWEVER an invisible repair will never happen by doing that. i am a professional painter. both automotive and marine and i can tell you that no matter how good the match and the painter are, if you keep it small your goin to see it. the secret is to always blend out. anyway, done deal now and if your ok with it then that is what is important. kudos to you for even giving it shot!

 

[Floridaman79]

I definitely learned a lot, I just wasn't bold enough to blend it like that, and there weren't any lines that would have been a natural break. And I can definitely live with it for the $600 I saved doing it myself. Everything actually went great till the top coat. I was struggling to get it as good as it came out. It just didn't cover as good as I thought. In retrospect, it would have been better to have a base coat that would have matched the color better. That would have made the top coat a lot easier.

 

[mrcleanr6]

Bright reds, yellows and oranges never cover worth a crap....unfortunately

 

[tdonoughue]

And, I know these are our babies and all, but... really, isn't what you did good enough? Sure, if you look closely you can see it. But when you are flying by, I doubt anyone on the beach is going to be pointing, laughing, saying, "he didn't even feather it!"

Gratz on a job well done and lessons learned!