Before & After Pics - Dash gellcoat repair

grady33

GreatGrady Captain
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Location
Ocean Pines, MD
Model
Express 330
Replaced Furuno auto-pilot in my 06 330 Express with Garmin which left a large hole in the dash. Here’s the before and after pics.

Found a cutout from another Grady and cut it to size and epoxied it just below the surface. Then gellcoated it over with final coat sprayed on using disposable sprayer from home depot.

As good as new!
 

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Very nice work. You must own a Serv Pro franchise ... "like it never even happened".
 
What brand and color gelcoat did you spray?
 
Same as above, well done! I would really like to know what gel coat products you used as well as what method you used to apply it. If you sprayed what equipment did you use? I will need to make these choices soon so any advice will be much appreciated.
 
outstanding job !!
 
Mine would most certainly not turn out like that.

Well done.
 
Beautiful work. I could have saved thousands over the years if I had the skill and confidence to do work like that.
 
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Beautiful work. I could have saved thousands over the years if I had the skill and confidence to do work like that.
Spraying gel coat isn’t something I’ve done yet but I’ve found a lot of things that require skill can be handled with Lots of research along extra time and patience.
Then there is that other thing you hit on getting past letting a new job intimidate you and taking it on with confidence.
I have zero experience spraying gelcoat but have a spot above the rub rail in the stern that got crunched to fix. This dash came out fantastic and with a disposable sprayer !!!
I may have to give it a try.
 
OP, you do good work. Please share your sources for the gelcoat, sprayer, and tips you may offer. This thread might become a how-to "Sticky".
 
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Purchased a quart of gelcoat from Grady dealer. Had it already made but you can also order it online from Spectrum Color. Just tell them what boat model and year.

Sprayer used was a simple disposable Prevail 9 oz sprayer from Home Depot.

Need to fill in any holes and gaps and sand well starting with 120
grit and going up to 800 and 1,500 for final sanding. A dual-action (DA) orbital sander will make the job faster.

Then compound, polish and wax.

There are several how-to videos i watched before spraying the gelcoat which helped.

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks. I don't have anything that needs work on my boat, but I wanted to ask, seeing what a good job you did. And I am sure others will benefit from your information.