Hull Bumps & Scrapes (Gel Coat)

[rbcoomer]

Looking again at all the minor dings along the base of the hull of our 1981 Fletcher ArrowFlyte and pondering how best to tackle them! Some sections at the base have no gel coat left at all and I'm a little concerned about waterproofing... (or lack of)

I had planned to strip the boat out over this coming winter and flip the hull over, then rub-down the worst bits, fill with epoxy resin and then redo the gel coat - at least the bit below the waterline. Although I've done various car bodywork over the years, being new to boats means that I've never tackled gel-coat so wondering how others have fared or indeed how others cope with hull maintenance on trailer boats. I'd like to do the whole boat as it's quite tired, but that may be a bit ambitious, so starting at the bottom seems like a plan...

[Ed]

My honest opinion (and it is biased as I've not tried gel coat) is to spray paint it (not spray cans get a compressor and gun) Spray paint is much easier to apply and repair. If you use what's called a 'solid' colour i.e. no lacquer non metallic paints etc, then its very easy to cut in new areas and repair any damage.

I sprayed my last fletcher and it looked great, was surprisingly durable, and easily repairable. I'll also be painting my current boat.

[salamis]

To be honest I'm with Ed here, unless you know quite abit about gelcoting with fillers and the techniques involve a rub down with sandpaper then fill worst areas with P40 glass filler then smooth.
Paint with a number of options, two-pack is best however I painted one of my boats with international marine undercoat and topcoa which is quite expensive. On a well prepared, degreased hull you get a good result from Hamerite paints. They make a very good undercoat followed by around 4 coats of your chosen colour, biy it frpm Halfords very easy to. Touch-up and gives a good finish,
The other option is to book the boat into Osmotech in Southampton and have it done by the professionals. I don't know what they charge but bet it would be a lot!!
Iphone keypad no reading glasses i hope this makes sense?

[jokaboat]

Agree with the above. For small dings use an epoxy repairer, like the one from Plastic Padding. For larger areas it's a pretty specialised job. With practice I'm sure its possible but like plastering you need to be doing it all the time.

[Rinker]

There's some excellent advice on how to do this on the American 'i boats' forum. if the areas of danage are small, i would go with some gelcoat filler. if you have done any car bodywork repairs then you'll find it easy enough.

[salamis]

Hi rbcoomer, I've reread your post and these areas that are devoid of gelcote are potetially pretty bad as they would soak up water and could damage wooden runners inside the structure of the boat if left in water for any length of time. If they are small enough to cover with a good filler then coat over it should be done before using the boat really. As they say a picture paints a thousand words so if you could post a few pictures of the offending areas it would make giving any advice easier.

[rbcoomer]

Thank you all for the responses, I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow and post up!

I am a little concerned about water seepage through hull and whilst funds are tight I would like to do the best job I can on it

If I can defer until autumn however I would prefer too as I can envisage it will take a while...

Cheers,

Rob

[rbcoomer]

Hi rbcoomer, I've reread your post and these areas that are devoid of gelcote are potetially pretty bad as they would soak up water and could damage wooden runners inside the structure of the boat if left in water for any length of time. If they are small enough to cover with a good filler then coat over it should be done before using the boat really. As they say a picture paints a thousand words so if you could post a few pictures of the offending areas it would make giving any advice easier.

Thanks - longest boat is in water is about 4-5 hours. Usually with at least a week in between to dry out. Last trip I emptied about a gallon of water when recovering on slipway - most of this came over the top rather than seepage I think/hope! We have a manual bilge, but never seems to be enough to pump out.

[Centaur]

If the hull starts to absorb moisture through exposed glass fibres, it can take weeks or months to dry out even under ideal conditions. If it starts to react with uncured resins in the layup, it might never dry out at all and eventually lead to gelcoat blisters. It would be preferable to cover exposed areas with a good quality marine epoxy, suitable for below waterline applications. Even if you cannot get a good colour match (even grey on a white gelcoat!) you can always grind it down later and refinish with something more suitable.

However, note that gelcoat is also slightly porous and that boats left in the water for prolonged periods are still susceptible to the marine pox 'osmosis'.

[baasboat1]

There was a good article in another boating magaizine (shh - dont tell SB&R!) a few months ago, it was MB&Y. They had a technical article on how to reapir gel-coat and a case study of someone who bought a large boat and had all the gel-coat replaced, there was a photo of a 'naked' boat showing nothing but glass-fibre - they did a really good job on it and it looked superb in the after photos, mind you he took it to somewhere in the far east where he was paying tupnece hapenny a week for labour, I dread to imagine what a UK yard would charge for it.

regards

Baasboat1

[rbcoomer]

Ok, finally got around to moving boat into a better spot and taken some more successful pictures...

This is the worst bit and there is very little in the way of bumps and scrapes above the second chine.

My current thinking remains to empty the boat and remove outboard for the winter and then flip the hull over. I can then sand out the damaged sections, fill with resin and the gel-coat the bottom section of the boat... Open to better ideas however, but will have to be done outside so spraying is perhaps not ideal?






The first picture shows best, but still may not be apparent, that the bottom edge of the hull is devoid of gel-coat altogether!

Regards,

Robin

[JORIDAPILOT]

I had a chunk missing on one of the chines on Jorida when I bought her, I bought a gelcoat repair kit from a local yacht racing specialist and applied it like a runny putty, it didn't colour match and it wasn't smooth, I didn't have time to sand it down as it took a fair while to cure, but it did the job and keeps the water out. It was a bit tricky doing it upside down on a work rack (dry stacked don't forget) but it is never seen unless you go looking for it.
The glassfibre strand was exposed so it needed doing, I also bought some acetone for cleaning the area first.
Cost was about £10 and I have enough left to do umpteen repairs.

Perhaps one day I should have it tidied up by someone who knows what they are doing.

[Ed]

Agiain, I wouldn't bother with gel coat. Its only going to end up like it is there again, you'd be much better to spray it if possible, repairs are easier as the colour match wont be hard then. Flipping it over is a good idea too.