Gel coat Repair

aero3113

I'm relocating my GPS, the previous owner had it in a spot that obstructs my view. I'm going to relocate it to the cup holder on the right and repair the holes with Spectrum Patch Paste. I figured I will feather out the holes,use some epoxy filler to fill the big hole then use the gel coat over it and fill the smaller holes, wet sand till smooth. Anyone have any tips to help me out?

JoeStang

I'd just put a cup holder there, otherwise where does your "water" go????

aero3113

Ill just wear a helmet that holds 2 cans instead, LoL!

JoeStang

Haha perfect!

frenchship

Hi. First if you want to re- gelcoat the repair area do not use epoxy but fibreglass you will get a lot better adhesion with Fibreglass. When you fill the holes try to leave a small gap like 1/16 at the top for your repair for the gelcoat paste. If you intend to spray the gelcoat it is a different story. When you buy the gelcoat paste if the colour is not right on you could get some colour pigmentation from the gelcoat paste supplier to get a better match. Those colour pigmentation should be added with a tooth pick in very very small quantity since they are concentrate. Good luck

aero3113

I was able to get over to the boat today and apply the patch paste. I used aircraft structural 2 part epoxy for the bigger holes then ground them down with a dremel. I left about 1/16 inch of a gap at the top to let the patch paste fill. I then taped off the holes so I don't get the paste all over,mixed the paste then filled the holes. Next I peeled the tape then put plastic over the paste, i used a roller lightly to flatten the paste. When the paste cures the plastic will peel right off leaving a flat surface to be wet sanded. Hopefully I can find some time this weekend to complete the wet sanding.

aero3113

My plan is starting to come together! The first pic is what the paste looked like when I removed the plastic. The second is when I wet sanded it with 220. In the second pic you can see some tiny air bubbles in areas of the past. Since there was some bubbles I reapplied the paste where it was needed and I will sand again with 220 and make my way up to finer grit paper then polish. The third pic is of the GPS mounted where I want it .

Michael T

What a difference! Nice work. MT

aero3113

Thanks MT, I've been wanting to tackle this job since I purchased the boat 2 seasons ago. I finally got the courage to do it. LoL.

MarkB

Nice

TheSalt

Nice repair job!

aero3113

Mission complete! I'm pretty happy on how it turned out. If you look closely in person there are a few very very tiny pin size pits in one area of the repair. If you didn't know it was there you would never even know. I was going to attempt to fill the pin holes but I was worried I might mess it up somehow so I'm just gonna leave it. All you see is the reflection of the tarp I have over the boat

jmoen438

Wow, nice job!

OldDogNewTrix

You're hired! Nice work.

MarkB

Good job.

Michael T

.....and you were worried about your ability - why? PRO job! :-) MT

aero3113

Thanks for the compliments!

Bruce

Wow I can't believe you were able to match the color perfectly, excellent repair, thanks for sharing the procedure with us. 

dropout

Looks good!

What color Spectrum did you use?

aero3113

 There are 2 gel coat colors on my 242, Rinker Bone PN: F554020K and Rinker Sand PN: F554016K these part numbers will cover ALL model years 2000-2005. I used Rinker Bone for the repair above(Helm). I also did some smaller repairs with Rinker Sand (hull and top side)that came out just as good.

raybo3

Awesome job. Looks great......

midweste

Great Job! Looks very professional. 

qwikwhip

That looks awesome! Where did you get the gel coat from?

qwikwhip

Because I have a similar repair to do. lol

aero3113

Qwikwhip, that's a perfect repair for the spectrum patch paste. Go to this link - http://www.spectrumcolor.com/Items.aspx?key=cat&code=K&manu=RINKER&incl_m=F it has all of the gel coat colors for rinker. When you get ready to do it make sure you get rid of the cracked gel coat and make sure it's level before you apply the paste,

qwikwhip

Sweet, I'll be doing this soon. Thanks

aero3113

When you get around to it use a sanding block to evenly sand everything. Post pics also!

aero3113

Moving my GPS and spending the time to do the repair was definitely worth it. I love where the GPS is and how it's within reach

kneedeep

Aero, I took my son & 2 of his buddies to the ri airshow on Saturday. Beautiful day & great show. We were one of the first boats there, we got there right around 10am, and we anchored front row, just beyond the security line. It's pretty cool when the planes fly right over you. Were you there? I think I read in an earlier post that you work with geico. Marcus, knee deep.

aero3113

I'm sure you guys had a great time,Nice pics! I wasn't there, I was off this weekend got to relax and take the boat out . Did you get to see us fly? I know you can't compare us to the Blues but it's still a great show.