Someone hit my boat with his prop and scratched it. :(

[Trm1765]

Sorry about your first scratch... Yet that is part of the new boat ownership facts of life and anticipated questions, when will that first scratch come. Now that you have the first scratch, enjoy the boat. The good news is I have found that gelcoat is amazing, the scratch will come out.

 

[pagekl]

Looking closer at the photo, you could wet sand it, then buff it out and you'll never know it was there. Also, while my mind is on it, not sure if any of you guys and gals ever thought about making a video of projects or maintenance you do on the boat, but it would be a huge help. YouTube has many videos, but very few are specific to our boats. Believe or not, I wet sanded mine last year after watching a video online. It came out good and you can't tell where the scratches were. Few more spots to do. Will try to compound and buff them out with the DA Polisher first before going straight to wet sanding.

 

[dansshin]

@Trm1765 Thanks. That's what I'm hoping for.

@pagekl Are you sure just wet sanding it will fix this? It looks like I can see the white part beneath the black paint. My figure nail catches a bit (it's not that deep) when I scratch across it.

 

[dansshin]

@rkluck Yeah incident didn't make be feel good and I don't think making a big scene with the guy or asking him to pay would have made me feel any better but I'm hopeful it will be completely repaired like new when I get the Spectrum color gelcoat kit I ordered from iboats.com. While at it I also ordered the throw-able PFD and fire extinguisher as I believe those are required to have in MN.

 

[dansshin]

@Wayloncle Sorry to hear about your incident. With mine I believe scratch happened unintentionally but with your incident sounds like kids were just being immature kids and possibly had bad intent towards your boat. I would probably follow up with authorities so at least they learn a valuable lesson from it. Either way things like this leaves a bad feeling for people like us who just want to enjoy boating peacefully. Good luck!

 

[Trm1765]

dansshin, I could not by any means be mistaken as a body repairman,, but I have wet sanded several scratches out of mine, and they also had a white look to them initially. I would attempt to buff first but wet sanding works well. The neat thing about gelcoat is that the color is the entire thickness of the gelcoat, unlike paint where it is only on the surface. The gelocoat is not super thick but plenty thick enought to sand a scratch out. There are several post on here about wet sanding, worth your time to look up. Start with a very high grit count first and only go as course as needed to to get the scratch out, and make sure you use a sanding block. When the scratch is gone then work your way back to fine again. Water is your friend when sanding,, use plenty of water. The spot you sand will be dull and need to be buffed back to a shine with a high speed buffer and a good polish. (I bought a high speed buffer that will pay for itself with future scratches I don't have yet...) I think the hard part of using a gelcoat repair kit is getting the color to match, and then you will have to wet sand that also.

 

[haknslash]

Man reading the thread title I was so worried to come into this thread expecting a hull torn all apart like Jaws got into it. Glad that is not the case but it does suck your boat got hit. Thankfully the damage wasn't severe or appear to be. Can you inspect that portion of the hull from the inside as well?

 

[pagekl]

@dansshin, wet sanding will definitely work. I have a few scratches where I can see white and can just feel with my finger nail. As @Trm1765 mentioned try to buff it out first, but chances are you will end up wet sanding anyway. Be warned, if and when you do wet sand, it will look like you just destroyed your boat. Keep cool and know that the shine will come back. You will just need to keep sanding until the scratch is gone and the only thing you see is the very dull area you made from sanding. Again, water with a little dawn dish soap (dish soap is optional) is your best friend in this process. Once the scratch is gone, start the process of bringing the gelcoat back to life. Will take some time but, trust me, it will be worth it when that shine comes back.