Cleaning up a Jean Morin

[rick_cp]

While she's an older boat she's not in too bad a shape. There are some spots on the hull where a mild collision broke through the gelcoat. Whats the best way to repair these?

I'll be posting photos of the project.

Cheers!

[Henry]

You had better attach the photos. Complicated question I am afraid. The easy answer is since epoxy gel coat doesn't exist, get a pint of white gel coat- and spend some time working with it before you go for the hull. For larger than surface scratches I mix with WS406- collodial sillica.

I would search "gel coat repairs" on the web first. A lot easier than writing a manual! It is a touch/feel type thing- not overly difficult, but practice helps. Prep, prep, prep. The chemicals and working times are far easier and condusive to "whoops" than epoxy, so don't be afriad to go for it. If the scratches are larger than gel-coat plus sillica then a little poly or vinyl ester resin in the mix will help, but be careful with how much MEKP you use- it can kick off before you apply....

DO NOT go to West Systems epoxy for the repair as two things are certain- epoxy absolutely sticks to ester based resins (gel coat) but gel coat does NOT stick to epoxy (for very long)...

Not muich of a help, but a good idea to post your link findings... I'll try to add more later in my long list of things to get on the web (here)

Henry