Gel Coat / Fieberglass Help

[Ameyer76]

Hi All, fairly new Yamaha owner. I bought the boat with this already on it and want to fix it.
Can any one tell me what to patch it with? Can I just use GelCoat patch or do I need to patch it then GelCoat on top?

 

[Julian]

@Glassman any recommendations?

 

[marcham]

Patch or perfectly repair?

Given that some fiberglass is missing, you could tint white Marinetex as a one step repair. The color match won't be perfect but it will be structural and waterproof.

Looks like someone was powerloading with the trailer too deep in the water...

 

[Ameyer76]

I believe you are correct in the way that it happened.
Is the Marinetex going to patch the holes. Would I have to GelCoat over it? I have no clue. Thank you.

 

[mrcleanr6]

Ok those are air pockets where during layup the glass pulled away from the gel. The gel has no strength on its own. It must be backed up with glass. So to start you cant just fill that yet. You need to grind that out. You need to take a grinder and remove all the gel that isnt touching the glass. You can then fill and reshape the area with a polyester filler like adtech p17 then you will spray your gelcoat, sand smooth then compound and polish. By the time you buy everything to do this repair it will be cheaper to have someone do it

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Looks like the anchor banged into the hull?

I would send it out for repair if you want it to look like new. Gelcoat is tricky to color match and lay perfect. You can fill slightly with MarineTex to keep water out until repair.

If you want to try yourself, there are a couple write ups on gelcoat repair on the forum.

 

[Ameyer76]

So, using some of the Gel coat repair products I’ve seen out there won’t work? I need to fill with fiberglass or something else before using the gel coat repair stuff?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

To do properly it will be ground out another inch around the scar then filled and that ridge reshaped. The gel coat is then laid on top filling the top 1/16 to 1/8. Theres varying degrees of how it could be done from DIY to pro level. Each has trades offs from looks to cost.

 

[Ameyer76]

Thank you. At this point just want to do something to close up the holes and not have any damage

 

[johhnyboat]

that is something that you might want a professional to look at. I would be surprised if those two little holes would be that costly to repair.

 

[marcham]

I believe you are correct in the way that it happened.
Is the Marinetex going to patch the holes. Would I have to GelCoat over it? I have no clue. Thank you.

It will seal and protect. You don't have to gel coat over marine tex, but of course it won't be a perfect match.

 

[VaMarine]

I just had a quarters size chip repaired similar to yours, (banged the rail with the box anchor) it was a total of like $250 for the repair. I would suggest letting someone else do it the correct way.

 

[Ameyer76]

Thank you. Had no idea it would be that much. I thought it would be closer to $1k.