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Hollywood wrote: And then when you get the boat back your truck breaks down.

A.K.A: Murphy's Law

Bazinga!

^^

Ok skip a weekend for some graduation party or soccer game ad pick it up the following Friday.

Drop it off Monday and pick it back up Friday. Or, like you said, cover it in white duct tape and revisit over the winter.

If it were not July I'd consider doing it myself.

Your lucky, there are lots of true gel coat artists in Cali, they'll be able to match the color and make it look like new, that's the hardest part. Normally I'd say DIY it, but that's going to be really noticeable if it's not perfect.

Gary, your funny....

Kevin,
A picture can be deceiving. I thought the same about the damage not being that bad when I looked at it the first time. If you look closer, you will see evidence of deeper damage. A close exam is needed. Still, it's still possibly a DIY repair.

Um, I'm going against the grain here but that doesn't look that bad to me. It looks like you need to remove that section of the rub rail, make sure the glass is solid underneath, sand and prep and then apply some new gelcoat. Wet sand, polish, buff, wax and re-attach the rub rail. The big step would be making sure the glass is solid underneath the damage and that you do not need to remove or repair any glass. Even if you do, this is a small repair and should be easy to do with the right tools, glass and resin.

Just another opinion. I'm sure others here will tell me I'm wrong immediately. Sorry to see the damage to your beautiful boat.

That sucks. I agree with the others on here, take it to some pros for a few estimates. At the very least you can find out what it would cost and what they would do to repair it.

Then if you still wanted to try it yourself, you'll at least have more knowledge and ideas at your disposal.

Gary S wrote: I would get an estimate too,because you will have some money tied up in supplies that you might never need again.

ditto.
It took me a lot of money in supplies to get to the point where i can do glass and gelcoat work but if I wasn't setup the way i am I would bring it somewhere and open up my checkbook.

ouch, sorry to hear about this.
It looks like the damage goes much deeper than just gelcoat which is a bummer. my experience with gelcoat repair is that no matter how new the boat is the repair is always going to be able to be seen by someone who knows what to look for.
The closest match will be to call the manufacturer that laid up your hull and get a can of the gelcoat they use right from them. I have had to do this in the past.

I like west system, it is the best in my eyes. youll want to utilized their 403 filler.
CAN you get at the underside of this damage? and how easily will be the first thing to figure out.
If your able to get under it you will want to cut out anything that is no longer bonded to the hull and replace it. I'm pretty sure these hulls were probably laid up with a chopper gun so you will not be able to reproduce that effect but you can build up with some matting and tie it into existing glass with woven cloth.

another way to do it would be to cut out replacement paneling which you can buy from mcmastercarr called FRP it can be bought in the same manner as metal, in tube, angle, square, solid and flat sheets.
It is amazing stuff to work with and a huge time saver. you can pretty much lay up onto it like repairing a hole in your sheetrock wall. you want to be sure to grind down the surface and lay up inlayers on the edges and you will still need to taper down the mating edges and lay some layers but it will take less time to get the thickness your looking for.

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