Helpful Gelcoat Repair Info

good info,

but what if your boat's older than a 1990?

I guess I should explain, I got gelcoat direct from Correct craft to match my 81 cream colored hull. Not even close.

Then went to Minicraft and gave them my hull id number, they said no problem. When the gelcoat hadn't arrived 2 weeks later i called and they said they could not get the color info from correct craft.

The only option left was to supply them with a quarter size piece of my boat's gelcoat so they could scan and custom mix for $60 charge. I just ran out of patience by that time and will start the process over again in the fall. I will probably cut a sample out from under my coaming pads, don't know what else to do

Jimbo,

Tried one of those too, Depending on the color you are trying to match it's hit or miss. Oddly enough an offwhite color is pretty hard to match because the amount of pigment required is minute. Just the slight bit too much pigment and you're way off. By the time I was done I had enough gel to build a new boat and it still didn't match. And I spent about $30 on the kit so that was half of the cost to get it matched proffesionaly so that's what I'll do in the fall.

Ps. Nautique2001, thanks for the info in the original post, didn't mean to be bashing it, worked 18 hours yesterday and I may have been a little cranky.

81nautique wrote: I guess I should explain, I got gelcoat direct from Correct craft to match my 81 cream colored hull. Not even close. <snip>

Well, I had excellent results using gelcoat ordered through CC dealer (silver cloud and electric blue). I am curious to know if you actually attempted a repair with the CC gelcoat, or just opened the can a took a look.

Two things to consider:
1. The surface of your original gelcoat has been faded by the sun. The new CC gelcoat is the original color when your boat was new. Sand a spot around the repair to be made, polish it out and then compare the colors again. The spot will fade again in a year or so.
2. Trying to compare a blob of uncured gelcoat to shiny cured gelcoat is diffilcult. When comparing colors, make sure you smear the uncured gelcoat into a large circle about the size of a silver dollar and get it as flat as you can so it reflects and picks up light just as the cured gel does.

I agree, trying to make your own matched color is darn near impossible...I can't do it.

Dave,

I did several repairs along the chines with the gelcoat from CC and was not a good match for a repair that is in eyesight although good enough for that part of the boat since you only see it when it's on the trailer.

I mixed up a batch that I though was pretty darn good and even smeared some on the boat the check it. After it set and I sanded in down and polished it was worse than CC's match. So I'm not pointing fingers, it's just hard to do especially since I'm sort of particular about my boat.