Scratch's in gel coat....what do you think?

[Kevin M]

I have a few scrapes/scratch's that I acquired last season. What would be the best way to clear these up? I have a few around the boat but these are the worst ones. I'm guessing my wife did this. ;-)


T h a n k s !

 

[Glassman]

Well, the worst way to clear it up is to blame it on the wife!


Ask me how I know.

Do you have a better picture? Larger file, close up?

 

[Kevin M]

Are they deep where you can catch it with your fingernail or surface?

They are surface scratch's. It looks like she (the wife) just did enough to scratch the colored gel coat off. Not very deep at all.

 

[Kevin M]

Well, the worst way to clear it up is to blame it on the wife!


Ask me how I know.

Do you have a better picture? Larger file, close up?

I will get a better picture tomorrow, thank you!

 

[Kevin M]

@Glassman is this photo better?

 

[Kevin M]

@SuperJetDan ....Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!

 

[Glassman]

View attachment 5397 @Glassman is this photo better?

Much better, thanks. Those should be filled and blended for best results - it's hard to be absolutely certain from just a photo. Some parts will probably "buff out", but the deeper areas probably won't without removing too much material. Hard to tell if that is a very thin layer of colored gel coat or what.
But, you can try a small section. Rub it out with compound. See if the color comes back or if you are clear through the color.
Probably a great candidate for Spectrum if you want to do it yourself.
Shouldn't be very expensive to have a pro do it.

 

[Magic]

That's way more than beer can remove from your sight..... Spectrum and see the thread with the red boat...that one turned out awesome.... would link but i'm of to football.....

 

[GiddYupJoe]

@Magic enjoy the football! @Kevin M check this out.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/gel-coat-repair-with-spectrum-color-match.1641/

 

[Kevin M]

Thanks @GiddYupJoe , if it ever stops raining long enough to work on the boat....geez
@Glassman , your expertise is appreciated. I will try some rubbing compound and see what it does, If not then off to a pro.

 

[BoaterGuy]

I bought a buffer from harbor freight and purchased the following materials to use on my black hull:

• 3M Marine rubbing compound
• Marine Cleaner/wax
  
• Attwood Polish
• 3M compounding pad for buffer (9" I think)
• 3M polishing pad for buffer
• Waxing pad and microfiber cloths

I always buff at 1500 rpm

1. First you use the buffer with the compounding pad and rubbing compound. Do not press hard, but apply pressure, and buff until you see the scratch start to fade. This can take 10 - 15 mins.
2. Then use the wax pad and cleaner/wax to rub with pressure by hand. Do this until the scratch is gone. Can take another 10-15 mins
3. Attach the polishing pad and use the polish @1500 rpm to bring it back to shiny new.

Its not hard, just takes some time. Dont rush it, or go too high on the RPM's as it can burn the gelcoat (not easy to do).
Also, some people use wet sandpaper (1000-2000 grit) first...

The supplies are bit expensive, but are re-usable.

 

[Kevin M]

@RobA Thank you for your input, clearly you are experienced at this. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

[bgood188]

I have a few scrapes/scratch's that I acquired last season. What would be the best way to clear these up? I have a few around the boat but these are the worst ones. I'm guessing my wife did this. ;-)


T h a n k s !

@Kevin M I'm local (South of you by 30 or so minutes) I'm the one with the red boat who did the patch with Spectrum color match. If you want to chat let me know. It was easier than I expected.

 

[Kevin M]

@bgood188 Thank you for the offer, I will keep that in mind.

 

[Seadeals]

I had some similar scratches (gouges really) in mine when I bought it used. Most were by the bow from the anchor hitting on the way up and a couple down the sides. I may eventually have them everything professionally repaired, but better to let them accumulate then bite the bullet and make it like new again. There is a lot of finesse in coloring and blending out; but in the meantime, I had modeling paint that is a very close match. A fine brush and a couple coats to cover the white made them all disappear until you get a few feet away and look for it.

 

[tomcoombs]

How did the repair turn out? What did you end up doing to fix the damage?

 

[Kevin M]

Went boating......I didn't do anything yet. I may wait until the end of this season to see what new scratches I can put in it.

 

[cane.mba]

I have a couple of scratches I want to fix too, just superficial, not deep enough to reveal any white below the black gel coat. However, they big me, so I need to fix them, and probably remove the decals since they ripped when the scratch happened.

They'll still be there at the end of the summer, and I'm pretty sure they will have friends, by then.

 

[cwoav8r]

On the bow of my boat, below the rub rail in the black, I have a spider crack (smaller than a dime) that looks to have been caused from an impact on the inside of the anchor locker... it is very slightly raised and the four small cracks radiate out from the center. I also have a small chip on the other side in about the same place that is about an 1/8th of an inch in diameter.

My first instinct was to do the Spectrum patch kit on the chip, and the sharpie method (or black crayon) on the crack and wax. @Glassman mentioned http://www.magicezy.com in one of the threads, so I thought I might try the Hairline Fix for both repairs... Anyone have any experience with Magicezy yet? My biggest concern is color matching, which will not be an issue with Spectrum... the Magicezy colors are just the basic colors, but this is a small repair, and black is black... The appeal of Magicezy is their claim that it will keep the crack from spreading. Thoughts?

 

[Glassman]

On the bow of my boat, below the rub rail in the black, I have a spider crack (smaller than a dime) that looks to have been caused from an impact on the inside of the anchor locker... it is very slightly raised and the four small cracks radiate out from the center. I also have a small chip on the other side in about the same place that is about an 1/8th of an inch in diameter.

My first instinct was to do the Spectrum patch kit on the chip, and the sharpie method (or black crayon) on the crack and wax. @Glassman mentioned http://www.magicezy.com in one of the threads, so I thought I might try the Hairline Fix for both repairs... Anyone have any experience with Magicezy yet? My biggest concern is color matching, which will not be an issue with Spectrum... the Magicezy colors are just the basic colors, but this is a small repair, and black is black... The appeal of Magicezy is their claim that it will keep the crack from spreading. Thoughts?

I did get some of that, but didn't have time to try it out last time. I'm headed to the river in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.