White gelcoat

[PhilR]

Hey Andrew, my winter storage folks dinged the starboard rear corner of my boat just above the rub rail and I need a pint of the white gelcoat. Can you suggest the best way to get this....is it haz mat?

Thanks, Phil

 

[RProffer]

Phil, I received some jars of gel coat for touch up when I got my boat. They were in a small cardboard box. Did you get some also?

 

[PhilR]

Thanks for the suggestion Rick. Unfortunately I got a small can of Midnight Blue But no white.

Phil

 

[rt11002003]

A pint would last forever. White is white; well, almost. Try West Marine, etc. In my experience, you'll can't get a perfect match. You'll likely have to mix to almost match; I use brown/tan for attempting matching.

gene

 

[LADYBUG TOO]

Guys I hate to admit it but my solution to gel coat repair in Pensacola, Florida is the the local fiber glass tub repairman. I have two perfect matches that I did not have to worry about. Just paid the bill, less than a "C" note, and was glad to be done. They come prepared with their neat little kit with everything they need, finish in an hour or two and are gone. The boat repair guys charge way more and don't do a bit better. So check out the local tub guy in your area unless you just can't stomach the thought of a non-marine type working on your boat. It is hard for me to let others do my repairs but on GelCoat I yield to the pros. I am sure to be castigated for this but hey, it won't be the first or last time. Good luck.

Pat, Ladybug, Too

 

[RProffer]

Well Phil, I guess I lucked out. I got a pint of Hero Red, a half pint of white, and a half pint of beige.

I found a tutorial for gelcoat repair on West Marine's website http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...Id=11151&catalogId=10001&page=Gelcoat-Repairs. It actually looks pretty easy to do. If you could get the factory to send you a can of white, it should be simple fix. I don't know about the gelcoat world, but in the paint world, there are a thousand different shades of "white". I would expect the factory would use the same shade of white on all their boats. A different lot could give you a slight difference in color, but with white, I don't think it would be noticeable.

My boat developed spider cracks around the pumpout soon after I received my boat. My dealer had it fixed. I was afraid there might be a difference in color with the white. To my surprise, it was a perfect patch - couldn't tell anything had been done to it.