gelcoat repair question ?

[tilewave]

hello, my boat got tossed around real good in sandy, i had to get a lot of nicks & scratches repaired all over the hull. i supplied the fiberglass guy with the correct " spectrum" gel for my year grady. the color match on the repairs are inconsistent. some are good some are not. does anybody know what would cause this inconsistency ? ...... drying time ? moisture in the air? amount of hardener in the mix? less than clean water during wet sand?
thanks in advance -john

 

[Grog]

Is the hull the same color in all the areas patched? Some areas may have oxidized more than others. The pigment in the gell may have not been mixed in leaving the top whiter than the rest. The hardener would only make it kick faster unless they really overdid it. It's possible the gell is thin and you're seeing the filler through the gell.

How many patches were there? Did they use a gun or the Preval? If it was a gun they should have been able to do the boat in 1 can so there shouldn't be any gell inconsistancies. Did they compound and polish the whole area around the patches?

 

[tilewave]

hello, thanks for the reply. i wasnt there during the repairs so i dont have the answers to your questions. the boat is solid & im just going to launch her soon. any spots that still "bother" me by the end of the season i will try to tackle myself next spring. thanks again _ john

 

[seasick]

Matching older gel coat using the OEM color kits is hit and miss. Usually a good glass person will tint gel coat as necessary to match. It is an art and for that you need an artist.
Newer hulls are easier since the color is usually close to the original tint.

 

[sfc2113]

yea, the spectrum gel coats dont match the color after the boat gel color has faded. I had original color patches from spectrum all over my port side. lookled bad up close. Decided to take a sample of my current hull color to a fiberglass and getcoat supply company. He was able to make an almost perfect match. Bad thing was I had to buy a whole gallon. But At 65$ I did not care. Hell, the small 2-oz bottle of patch gel cost almost that much with shippping. I mix that gel with some cabosil to thicken it up in 2-3oz batches every season and make my own gel patch kits. Cant even see the repair areas now.

 

[bayrat]

Matching older gel coat using the OEM color kits is hit and miss. Usually a good glass person will tint gel coat as necessary to match. It is an art and for that you need an artist.
Newer hulls are easier since the color is usually close to the original tint.

Yep....I have a 2010 and the kit matches perfectly..and I have no idea what Im doing !! Like seasick says, you need an artist.

 

[dpcarson]

Hey Paul. How does the cabosil gel coat patch work out for you. Been thinking about doing this rather that applying two times. Only concern is how hard the cabosil is to sand. Are you mixing wax with the gelcoat or applying a Eva spray coating?