Gelcoat repair

[BOSS351]

Anybody use and recommend somebody in the BR area to so some gelcoat and maybe very light fiberglass repair?? The keel on my McKee has gotten scraped thru the gelcoat due to a disintegrated roller. While its just thru the gelcoat and some fb resin, it still bothers me and know the boat is fine.

 

[YoungMarine]

I also have the same small (but bothersome to look at) damage on my keel and have been looking at a few of the DIY repair kits that West Marine sells since I'd like to have it repaired for this weekend.

 

[BOSS351]

As a former bodyman/painter, I'm probably going to attempt to do this myself as I have the boat jacked up and the offending roller replaced and out of the way already. I don't care much for West Marine but may have to bite the bullet and try this out. OR I'll just use fiberglass resin and paint the area with something that matches closely....

 

[Phill]

Go to an auto paint store and get a quart of Everglass or Duraglass and patch it up. It's a waterproof body filler with fiberglass strands in it. That would be much easier than breaking out fiberglass resin and cloth.
Touch it up with some automotive urethane that matches.

I've heard Bubba Deere in French Settlement does good fiberglass work.

 

[YoungMarine]

Go to an auto paint store and get a quart of Everglass or Duraglass and patch it up. It's a waterproof body filler with fiberglass strands in it. That would be much easier than breaking out fiberglass resin and cloth.
Touch it up with some automotive urethane that matches.

I've heard Bubba Deere in French Settlement does good fiberglass work.

Thanks for the tip. I see that the local auto parts stores carry Bondo fiberglass filler, which sounds like a similar product to Everglass and Duraglass and will save me a trip to West Marine.

 

[BOSS351]

Funny you mentioned West Marine....I called and called to ask them if they had their gelcoat repair kit with tinting colors at their store in BR. Well, they never answered the phone and I called 3 times and it was after 10 a.m. This has happened to me the last couple of times I was looking for something they showed on the web site. They are my absolute LAST resort place to buy stuff. As far as my repair goes, I decided to do it myself. I had an area where the roller had gouged into the fg so I got some resin and cut up some mesh real fine and fixed that into it and repaired that spot. I'm presently waiting for a can of cabo-sil, which you mix into the fiberglass resin to create a fairing compound and you can mix it to the consistency you want so it will not sag when setting up. For this application they recommend mixing so it has the consistency of peanut butter, which is good as you can shape it to match the keel angles, a lot like working bondo but waterproof!! When that is done it will be painted with some paint that matches it. We will see how it comes out and how long it lasts..Hopefully a while!!

Thanks for that link. I have never used their short strand stuff but have used their long strand stuff a number of times in the past. It is very good stuff and works well for large areas. I imagine I could have used it to repair my gouge with the short strand stuff and would have been fine.

 

[shoalsfugro]

D&T Denham great work. http://www.dandtboatworks.com/

 

[BOSS351]

Saw them on the net when I was looking. Have you used them?? Sounds like good people.