Gelcoat help needed...

[jstaz]

I recently bought a fiberglass boat and I notice a few areas where there are some small cracks. I have been told from multiple people that it is just in the gelcoat and they are nothing to worry about. However, I like taking care of my things and want it looking Showroom new if at all possible. SO... How can I take care of these cracks? I know nothing about gelcoat because I am new to fiberglass boating care. My father always had wood boats so thats all I know right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rfdfirecaptain]

Re: Gelcoat help needed...

I'm in the middle of the same type repiar. Just a few days ago I started a thread asking for the same help. http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=444078

I was afraid the cracks were structural and possibly leaking water. What I found was that the cracks ended at the first layer of laminate.

Take a look at the thread above. There is a lot of suggested reading and you can see my before and ongoing progress photos. I think you'll find that thread to be a help.

One thing you might want to consider is not grinding out a path down to the laminate as wide as mine. If yours isn't cracked any worser than mine turned out to be that would be a lot of work for nothing. So how do you know how deep it is you ask? Well you have to slowly grind down to until you don't see the crack any more.... taking very little material as you go. Maybe you could grind out some test spots to see how deep the crack runs.

Knowing what I know now I would have done that first and used my Dremel to cut a gouge through the gel into the laminate. That would have made my repair a lot simpler. If the crack was deep... well I would have had to grind it out deeper and wider anyway.

PS... I can tell you.... I'm no gel coat expert, but if you want the true "experts" to reply to this thread you need to post some photos.

 

[jstaz]

Re: Gelcoat help needed...

thank you very much for your help. I will look at the thread! This all sound very helpful and not too difficult.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Gelcoat help needed...

A picture or two is almost a must in order to get meaningful input on this on. A lot depends on what you mean by "small cracks". If the cracks look somewhat like a spiders web you have no cause for concern as these are quite normal. Also it is normal to have some stress cracks where you may have hit the gunel rather hard while docking, etc.

You really have to whack fiberglass to get cracks that affect the integrity of the hull.

 

[Jet Wrench]

Re: Gelcoat help needed...

You need to make sure we are talking about "crazing" as opposed to "cracks". Crazing are the small spider cracks in the surface of the gel coat and not a structural crack that goes deep into the weave. My Boston Whaler quite a bit of crazing through out the hull. I was initially going to re gel coat the hull. Lot's of work for prep and then the knowledge, tools and materials to successfully apply the new gel coat. I opted out and prepped the hull with two part epoxy primer (3 coats, sanding between coats) that eliminated the crazing and followed up with 3 coats of polyeurethane paint (Interlux brand). Here are some before and after pics. It came out well for a backyard re-do. Whatever you decide to do, it's all about the time you want to spend, as well as the $$$!

http://picasaweb.google.com/gff1961/WhalerRefurbPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGPkPWP2sm65QE&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/gff1961...?authkey=Gv1sRgCI2s4O-t167xEQ&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/gff1961...?authkey=Gv1sRgCLyJptfurNbiYg&feat=directlink

JW

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Gelcoat help needed...

If there just in the Gelcoat then you could just die grind ( dremel grind basically ) down to the glass. Then fill it with some marine filler. Fair it and spot gel it.

But I would die grind and put fiberglass filler there. Then spot gel.

Some cracks ( depending on where they are ) could be filled with matched gel paste .. sanded and buffed after curing.

Again I would allways spray/sand/buff gel over the repair.

YD.