Gel Coat Repair with Spectrum Color Match

[tdonoughue]

Now, to get this perfectly matching gel coat do you guys just call Spectrum and give them your model numbers for color match?
I have some small dings that could be made worse with a poor match. Any experience with blue?
--

Yep--just give them a call is best. They have a website, but it can be pretty confusing. You will want the thickened gelcoat. Comes in just a little jar.

No experience with blue. Only with the white and red on my year/boat. Takes some time to do it and requires patience, but I can't say it is really hard. Until it dries.

 

[swatski]

Yep--just give them a call is best. They have a website, but it can be pretty confusing. You will want the thickened gelcoat. Comes in just a little jar.

No experience with blue. Only with the white and red on my year/boat. Takes some time to do it and requires patience, but I can't say it is really hard. Until it dries.

Funny!
Thank you, that helps, I will give them a call. I have done a fair number of fiberglass and gel coat repairs, mostly shitty as far as matching gel coat color - it is something of an art form I can not seem to master. Gives me mega heebie-jeebies. You guys just made me realize - someone may have the right color ready to go for me! With this boat I kind of want to get it right. But, it is blue... Some kind of blue...

 

[RightStuff]

Figured I would just add to this thread instead of starting a new one since it's on topic. Here are the steps I did to fix a nick in my (black) hull. It looks a lot better, but there is definitely a bit of cloudy-ness to the part that I was fixing/sanding. Most people won't notice it, but of course I do.

What do I need to do to get rid of that and blend it into the rest of the hull? You can kind of see it in that last picture... I was thinking a finer grit wet sand at the end? I have 2000 grit that I could use.

1) Before, 2 small nicks from a screw sticking up on a dock.


2) Taped off the area and did a dry 400 grit sanding to rough it up


3) Mixed up and applied the Spectrum stuff


4) Pulled the tape off after it cured for ~4 hours, then did a wet sand with 400 grit the next morning. The pictures below are after I wiped and dried the areas so it's easier to see the 'aftermath' of the sanding.


5) After a 800 grit wet sand


6) After a 1500 grit wet sand


7) This was after using Meguiar's Boat Polish by hand and I did this twice


8) This was after 2 coats of Meguiar's Pure Wax

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Figured I would just add to this thread instead of starting a new one since it's on topic. Here are the steps I did to fix a nick in my (black) hull. It looks a lot better, but there is definitely a bit of cloudy-ness to the part that I was fixing/sanding. Most people won't notice it, but of course I do.

What do I need to do to get rid of that and blend it into the rest of the hull? You can kind of see it in that last picture... I was thinking a finer grit wet sand at the end? I have 2000 grit that I could use.

1) Before, 2 small nicks from a screw sticking up on a dock.
View attachment 40150

2) Taped off the area and did a dry 400 grit sanding to rough it up
View attachment 40151

3) Mixed up and applied the Spectrum stuff
View attachment 40152

4) Pulled the tape off after it cured for ~4 hours, then did a wet sand with 400 grit the next morning. The pictures below are after I wiped and dried the areas so it's easier to see the 'aftermath' of the sanding.
View attachment 40153

5) After a 800 grit wet sand
View attachment 40154

6) After a 1500 grit wet sand
View attachment 40155

7) This was after using Meguiar's Boat Polish by hand and I did this twice
View attachment 40156

8) This was after 2 coats of Meguiar's Pure Wax
View attachment 40157

Looks like you need to use a rotary buffer with wool pad to polish the remaining sanding scratches out.

 

[Mtschelling]

All cleaned up under warranty. Thank you to @Murf'n'surf and @tdonoughue for the quick spot of the bubble problem. 10 HR run through while it was there. Had her back in under a week. Under 100 out the door.

 

[RightStuff]

Looks like you need to use a rotary buffer with wool pad to polish the remaining sanding scratches out.

Thanks Murf, I'll try that. I assume just replace my hand polish step (#7) with a buffer? So do that after sanding, but before wax, right?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Thanks Murf, I'll try that. I assume just replace my hand polish step (#7) with a buffer? So do that after sanding, but before wax, right?

Correct. You can hit it right now then wax it afterwards.

 

[Marvin willis]

Do you think it will work on spider cracks?

 

[Murf'n'surf]

Do you think it will work on spider cracks?

Buffing? No, you can use a quick repair kit. There are a few on the market that have been discussed on the forum. Google quick gel coat crack repair.

 

[Marvin willis]

I've seen the repair kits. I just already have the spectrum color for my boat.

 

[Glassman]

Late to the party....as usual.
Glad you got that void fixed under warranty @Mtschelling

@swatski , the Spectrum stuff is pretty good. I made a repair to my son in law's Malibu at the end of last season and he couldn't find it when he picked the boat up last month. I almost convinced him it never happened since it was my grand daughter who accidently hit the ridiculous steel guide ons they put on his trailer while trying to load the boat.

I'm about to head over to a buddy's house to help him with his ski boat. Seems the liner has separated from the hull and needs to be glued back together. That should be worth a beverage

 

[swatski]

@Glassman Thank you, that is good to know. Great to have you here, but seriously - I would love to apprentice with you!

 

[LeeFlan7]

Looks like Im late to the party on this thread, however, I need to get he spectrum kit for a scratch that was put on my boat at the end of last season.
Is this kit pretty easy to work with? I have the suede grey and want to this asap in case of any color fade...what should i know and what tools should i have up front?
or should i just find a decent repair guy locally? not easy to find though from my searches!

 

[tdonoughue]

I thought it was pretty easy to work with. However, depending on the size of your scratch, you may need to widen it in order to get the stuff to stick. And widen more than you think... But I had good results on my scratches for a few hours work over a couple of days.

 

[ScubaMike]

Just ran across this thread. Looks great but I couldnt find where it talks about the product.

 

[john94si]

Just ran across this thread. Looks great but I couldnt find where it talks about the product.

Spectrum Color Yamaha Suede Gray 15-21 Boat Gel Coat

<p><h3><strong>*This item is non-returnable*</strong></h3></p><p style="font-weight: bold"> Gel Coat Patch Paste Repair </p> <ul> <li>Patch Paste is the factory gel coat color made into an easy-to-use paste </li> <li>Kit includes: <ul> <li>2oz gel coat paste </li>...

www.iboats.com