Gelcoat Repair

JBob

I recently had my first scratch in my 2011 226 Captiva.  It is very small (3/4 inch).  It is in grey portion near he back.  Is there a place where I can find gelcoat to match to make the repair? 

TonyG13

I'm sure others will chime in with the correct color you need, but iboats.com carries Spectrum Color Coat mini repair gelcoat kits for Rinker...

https://www.iboats.com/shop/paint-and-maintenance/fiberglass-and-epoxy-boat-repair/boat-gel-coat-repair.html?boat_manufacturer=Rinker&ib_size=Kit+(2+oz)

Pat310

IBoats.com has small jars of thickened gel coat that a few guys on the site have used. They have a lot of the Rinker colors available. Do a site search for gelcoat repair and there are quite a few. @aero3113 has some pics of a repair he made and it looks like new. Good luck

MarkB

Call spectrum, give them your serial number, to see if they have the original batch stored.  Otherwise, it's going to be tough to match colors .... so don't have huge expectations. Is this anywhere where you can fix with gelcoat and then put a vinyl stripe, or decal overtop ... basically pimp the boat out?

rkinross

I have used Spectrum Patch Paste purchased on Iboats for about $40.  I have not had much luck with Spectrum customer service.  They were the opposite of helpful telling me I would never be able to match the gelcoat because of fading caused by the sun.  I purchased white Patch Paste and went to Home Depot to select color match cards that closely match the boat.  After comparing the color cards to the boat and selecting a good match, I went back to Home Depot and ask them to run the card thru their color match system to produce the additive they usually mix in their paint.  They put their color match pigment into a small container that I then mixed into the white Patch Paste.  When I made the repair I was sure to mask the area to be fixed with masking tape within a few millimeters of the scratch.  I troweled on the Patch Paste so that it was even with the surrounding area.  I then sanded the patch with very fine sand paper 1000 grit after it cured.  The result blended right into the undamaged gelcoat.  Be sure to sand the area while leaving the masking tape in place so that the undamaged gelcoat is not affected.