Gel Coat Repair - After Snap Removal / SeaDek Install

[drewkaree]

Well, two things...this will serve to bump this thread, and secondly, mebbe someone has an answer for me.

I ordered the paste to fix all my carpet snap holes a few weeks ago, and it arrived later than expected, and within a time period where we weren't headed to the lake house. At the time, temps were projected to be mid-60's and all would be fine. This being Wisconsin here, 3 weeks changed our temps dramatically, and thankfully I was reading through the directions one more time prior to heading outside to start this project. "Should be applied at temps above 60". Uh oh. It's currently 48, and will drop throughout the day, with similar temps throughout the rest of the weekend, and overnight temps are now in the mid to low 30's.

I've read that when working in "cold" temps, anything around 55 would work, but would require putting the material in some warm water prior to application, but curing time would still be extended greatly (the further away from 70 degrees, the longer it would take). To my interpretation, this is currently a waste of my time to start this, since every "workable" temp is still above where I'm at, and curing might not even take place.

I HAVE read that storing the uncatalyzed product in a cool dry place should be good for 6 months, this is per the container itself. This leads to my question of whether anyone has stored this in a fridge/freezer and used this at a time longer than 6 months. I have not even opened the jar, and I have access to a vacuum sealer, so I'm wondering if I vac-sealed the jar and put the whole shebang in the freezer, would I be good to use it in the spring? 55-60 usually comes sometime around April, so I'm gonna be right at the 6 month point.

Do I freeze this and wait, just keep it in the basement and wait, or buy a new jar in spring?

This is to fill all the snap holes from the carpet prior to starting/finishing up my SeaDek, as well as patching the rash the dealer never fixed that he put on the back of the boat. If I end up using this stuff, I'd do the snap holes first to see how it would look, and use the rest on the rash after verifying that it would be acceptable.

 

[Babin Farms]

Maybe call the manufacturer and see what their opinion is on what the best way to store the product would be. Sometimes freezing something like that will crystalize the product making it useless. I'm still holding out for another warm stretch, we might get lucky.

 

[zipper]

Ya, too cold, but wait a minute and the weather will change. 75° yesterday, 48° today. You know the drill.
Is there an expiration date or best used by/made on...I also don't know the difference between the sellers shelf and your shelf. It is unopened. I don't know how long it sat on their shelf before you bought it. As @Babin Farms said, maybe ask the manufacturer. I bet it will last well into Spring.

 

[FLJetBoater]

How do you actually remove the carpet snaps from the deck? Do they just pull out? Drill them out? I think the repair process is documented very well but not sure how to get them out to begin with. Any tips would be appreciated....going to be installing my Seadek next week.

 

[Babin Farms]

In the older boats they are just held with screws

 

[drewkaree]

At least through my 2019, they just screw out. You can use a screwdriver, no need to drill them out.

 

[FLJetBoater]

In the older boats they are just held with screws

At least through my 2019, they just screw out. You can use a screwdriver, no need to drill them out.

thanks. I guess I should have actually looked at them before asking lol

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

This is a great thread on gel coat repair!

Question: Have any of you made a mold to recreate the textured finish in the attached pic?


This is one of my off season projects..

 

[drewkaree]

Question: Have any of you made a mold to recreate the textured finish in the attached pic?

I don't know if this will work, but it's a start down the road you will have to travel. I used this for some small project for the wife, maybe reverse it to make a wax casting for your chip?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I don't know if this will work, but it's a start down the road you will have to travel. I used this for some small project for the wife, maybe reverse it to make a wax casting for your chip?

Thank you for the suggestion!

I found this today....

Gibco Flex-Mold

 

[tdonoughue]

Good ole Spectrum... Hope it matches!

 

[drewkaree]

Holy cow! $60 seems steep to me, and @tdonoughue has a point about matching. Making your own mold guarantees a match. Whichever route you choose, make sure to let us know how it turns out

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Holy cow! $60 seems steep to me, and @tdonoughue has a point about matching. Making your own mold guarantees a match. Whichever route you choose, make sure to let us know how it turns out

I will let you all know how things turn out... it might be $60 for the “mold” but if there is another problem in the future I’ll have it.

 

[drewkaree]

it might be $60 for the “mold” but if there is another problem in the future I’ll have it.

I agree with this point. This is one of those threads that I stumble across and it piques my curiosity for no other reason than I may have to do this in the future, and I'm always more comfortable when prepared for something. It also saves me from losing my shit as badly, since I've got the theory down, and it's not as scary to tackle something that I have convinced myself isn't gonna be that difficult, and this one fits this category. I still have some gelcoat repair to do with the snaps that I couldn't get done this past fall due to the quick weather change, and I'm contemplating trying my hand at a mold of this when the time comes, with any of the extra paste I have. If it works, it works, and if not, I'm not out anything other than the excess product that I wouldn't have been able to use once I opened it anyway.

There's two vids I found that no matter which route you take, you're gonna be better at this after watching them than beforehand. These two also showed a product that, IMO, you're gonna be required to get, no matter the method - PVA mold release. Amazon had 8oz of this as their cheapest PVA - Amazon - PVA Water Based Mold Release - Polyvinyl Alcohol Agent for Epoxy, Polyester, Vinyl Ester, Resin, Gel Coat, Polyurethane Foam, Silicone - Spray or Brush-On Film for Sculpture and DIY Projects - 8oz

First video specifically calls out the mold you're looking to buy - this video shows me that if they don't guarantee an exact pattern match, I can make one EXACTLY like they would. Given that you'd need more gelcoat than just a small amount (mold creation AND the repair), this also shows me that $60 would be a bargain if they have the exact pattern for our boats.

The second video is gonna be the one you're going to want to watch, no matter what, IMO. This shows the actual results and how they are achieved using a mold for the non skid pattern. Looks like you're going to want to buy that PVA no matter what, and everyone seems to mention using it in a spray bottle. I'm guessing on this part, but I don't think it would require a spray gun like this video shows, but if you have one, that's a better method. Seems like a spray bottle with a fine mist output would work perfectly fine on this.

Hope you find those as useful as I did, and share with us (PICS!) so others can ride your coattails to success with this as well.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I agree with this point. This is one of those threads that I stumble across and it piques my curiosity for no other reason than I may have to do this in the future, and I'm always more comfortable when prepared for something. It also saves me from losing my shit as badly, since I've got the theory down, and it's not as scary to tackle something that I have convinced myself isn't gonna be that difficult, and this one fits this category. I still have some gelcoat repair to do with the snaps that I couldn't get done this past fall due to the quick weather change, and I'm contemplating trying my hand at a mold of this when the time comes, with any of the extra paste I have. If it works, it works, and if not, I'm not out anything other than the excess product that I wouldn't have been able to use once I opened it anyway.

There's two vids I found that no matter which route you take, you're gonna be better at this after watching them than beforehand. These two also showed a product that, IMO, you're gonna be required to get, no matter the method - PVA mold release. Amazon had 8oz of this as their cheapest PVA - Amazon - PVA Water Based Mold Release - Polyvinyl Alcohol Agent for Epoxy, Polyester, Vinyl Ester, Resin, Gel Coat, Polyurethane Foam, Silicone - Spray or Brush-On Film for Sculpture and DIY Projects - 8oz

First video specifically calls out the mold you're looking to buy - this video shows me that if they don't guarantee an exact pattern match, I can make one EXACTLY like they would. Given that you'd need more gelcoat than just a small amount (mold creation AND the repair), this also shows me that $60 would be a bargain if they have the exact pattern for our boats.

The second video is gonna be the one you're going to want to watch, no matter what, IMO. This shows the actual results and how they are achieved using a mold for the non skid pattern. Looks like you're going to want to buy that PVA no matter what, and everyone seems to mention using it in a spray bottle. I'm guessing on this part, but I don't think it would require a spray gun like this video shows, but if you have one, that's a better method. Seems like a spray bottle with a fine mist output would work perfectly fine on this.

Hope you find those as useful as I did, and share with us (PICS!) so others can ride your coattails to success with this as well.

Dude! Those are some awesome vids! Sure makes it look easy! A friend of mine who has worked with gelcoat and I will probably make a mold using his process to make the repair I need to.

Thanks very much for posting a couple of gem vid’s that I‘m sure a lot of people will be able to use successfully!


I’ll have to price out the spray gun and other supplies and weigh that against just purchasing the ready made mold ... I’m guessing that I may not need the spray gun for the PVA.. but I’d want to duplicate his process to have the same success.. and who knows it may be fun..

 

[tdonoughue]

Get a Preval sprayer for the PVA (can also work for non-gelled gelcoat). Cheap and effective for small jobs.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Get a Preval sprayer for the PVA (can also work for non-gelled gelcoat). Cheap and effective for small jobs.

Thanks for the tip!!!!