Tampa Fiberglass Repair

[AJack]

Had the boat out in some high winds and contacted a concrete structure resulting in damage to the front port side hand rail and gelcoat. Anyone recommend a place to repair this in Tampa?

It doesn't look structural. I'll probably buy another handrail and replace that myself.

 

[druppert]

I recommend Captain Levi’s in St. Pete. Attached is a very similar bit of damage I did to my boat. They fixed this for $450 which was a bit less than the original estimate. He told me that the repair kit would be enough to fix more damage but I didn’t have anything else to fix. I don’t have an “after” shot because you can’t tell where it was. I’m very obsessive about imperfections in my boat & I couldn’t find any blemishes or color inconsistencies at all. I will definitely take my boat here again should I have the same misfortune in the future. Best of luck.

 

[AJack]

Thanks for the recommendation and including a price to give me some kind of expectation.

 

[swatski]

Fixing/replacing that rail is going to get your hands dirty (and your forearms encrusted with FRP) anyway, at that point I would fix the gash (with gel coat), too.
The 2oz. gel coat paste kit (OEM sold by Spectrum through iBoats) is ~$30 and it will be perfect for the job. This is not under waterline, with enough elbow grease and the right process and gel coat material you can make it disappear completely. Just an idea.

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[AJack]

Hmm, very interesting, I'm going to place the order. I hope it's as easy as they state.

2 Questions:
1) Is it safe to trust Spectrum's website SKU? Spectrum's website shows SKU F557018K for a 2018, but the iBoat says only up to 2011.
2) Why is replacing the hand rail going to encrust my arms? It seems like an easy two bolt process, with the assistance of socket extensions.

 

[haknslash]

I “think” Foxtrot is the white color used on the boats since 2012 https://spectrumcolor-com.3dcartstores.com/assets/images/Spectrum Color Online Catalog 1-2017.pdf. For whatever reason spectrum hasn’t updated their white color for sometime. That reminds me I need to order some now that they’ve resumed business hours after the holiday shutdown. You’ll want to call them to verify.

 

[AJack]

I ordered two of the 2 oz bottles (F557018K) - seems to be a fairly easy process.

 

[swatski]

I ordered two of the 2 oz bottles (F557018K) - seems to be a fairly easy process.

That will be more than enough!
There is an abundance of good gel coating advice, I tend to like this manual:
http://www.optistuff.com/info/faq/instructions/GelcoatRepairInstructions.pdf

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[AJack]

That will be more than enough!
There is an abundance of good gel coating advice, I tend to like this manual:
http://www.optistuff.com/info/faq/instructions/GelcoatRepairInstructions.pdf

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I read that by following your post somewhere else - good stuff.

I got two bottles as a back-up for future incidents.

 

[swatski]

2) Why is replacing the hand rail going to encrust my arms? It seems like an easy two bolt process, with the assistance of socket extensions.

Probably it's just me, lol, I can be clumsy. But anytime I stick my hands under that hull cap, anywhere, I get fiberglass shards in my skin... The inside edges are very sharp, too.

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