Gelcoat repair question

[Kyle46N]

Had an accident the other day while on the water. Ran up on a sub surface rubble pile. Damage wasn't too bad. Three seperate small dime size gelcoat chips to the bottom of the boat. I still had some gel coat repair kit leftover, so I sanded the scratched/damaged area down. Wiped clean with acetone. A few hours later I'm getting ready to apply gelcoat, and I noticed drops of water coming from a couple of the areas where the fiberglass was exposed from the chipped gelcoat. I wonder if the acetone has anything to do with drawing water out or some sort of chemical reaction, because I didn't see any water before I sanded and cleaned the area. Is there any way to dry up this water? I don't understand where it could be coming from, because the boat is brand new, and there is no space between the gelcoat and fiberglass in the damaged area. Thanks for any help!

 

[oops!]

Re: Gelcoat repair question

hi kyle.......welcome to iboats.

sorry about the dings......not fun.

i am afraid to tell you that the hull was most likely penetrated and the foam behind the glass was disrupted......that is what took on the water, and the reason for the drips.
acetone will actually pull the moisture out of the area when it evaporates, so the drips are not coming form any reaction you may have to the acetone.

another possibility is that you have a hand laminated hull....this means layer over layer of chopped strand matt, then woven roving. these hand laminations may de laminate, causing a crack between layers. these de laminations can cover an area several square feet

my suggestion is to grind off the gellcoat in that area....if its a de lamb, you will see it right away......then just grind it back till the glass is solid again. then re glass and re gell.
(your little kit wont have the gell to do this however...lol

if it is a thru hull penetration and the foam is wet......just let it stop dripping. keep a quartz halogen work light under it for heat....possibly a fan....and let it drip out. then re glass the area, and re gell.

it sounds as if you have a grasp on what you are doing.....but if you need specific de tales on any part of the process.....just ask.....we are here to help

cheers
oops

 

[73Chrysler105]

Re: Gelcoat repair question

You might want to drill a small hole throught the fiberglass to see how much water comes out of it. Somethign small that you can patch with some peanut butter mix and then glass over it and regel once its all dried out. Might dry it out a little sooner. Also try to make that point the lowest on the boat so any water will drain to that point. To do this you might have to jack up the back of the trailer