Gel coat fix advice

I have been reading and lurking. What a great site!

I recently adopted a 1985 Ski Nautique. As I plan my winter lay up I have a couple of questions I could use help with. The first is with the crack at the port side bottom of the side of the hull.

Here is a pic:





and   





Question 1: How urgent is it to fix this? Am I causing damage by using the boat like this. I hope to use the boat until mid-November, when they lower the local lake and the slalom course comes out.



Question 2: I have found the spectrum color warm grey in a quart size but it says it is for an 87-98 correct craft. Will this color be close enough, even though mine is an 1985?



Question 3: Am I assuming correct that the right fix is just to layer in the spectrum color gel coat?


Question 4: Is there any advantage to putting the gel coat repair on this section prior to the 5 month winter lay up? Will that help the repair be stronger? If so, do I wait and wet sand after winter layup?


Thanks a ton.

Here is another pic.






I assume this occurred because of hitting that pole when retrieving. The original owner I know repaired this section one other time. I plan to get some pads on those poles after re-doing the duck tape section so I do not tear up the pads from the inside out.


Thanks in advance,

Richard

Thanks for the response. So first I build it up with the fiberglass resin. With you advice on getting a hvlp gun, that is for the gel coat? I would hope I can rent one.

Is this a critical repair. Are those fibers that are showing porous and am I hurting the boat?

Here are the pic's from this spring-

Any particular resin you all favor? I see 3M bondo come in a fairly small amount.

JPASS wrote: Not to hijack this thread, but I just filled in 2 small nicks that happened after my disastrous re-gel and it seems to be taking a long time to cure. I applied the gel yesterday around 1 in the afternoon and it's still tacky this evening when I just checked it. I even hit it lightly with the heat gun yesterday evening since that side of the boat was in the shade and the gel still wet. The repair was about half the size of a dime and the other was just a small nick. Is this taking too long to cure or is this normal?

Did you add wax to the gel?

rebel skier wrote: Any particular resin you all favor? I see 3M bondo come in a fairly small amount.

For big structural jobs like a stringer replacement, epoxy is best. For your repair, use polyester since you are going over it with gel. Gel doesn't stick to epoxy unless a conversion coat of polyvinyl is used first.

JPASS wrote: No wax added. I just used what the gelcoat guy left me in the gallon can. I scuffed and feathered the area, degreased it, then dabbed in some gel.

JP,
It will never cure. You need to use a catalyst and wax.    

87-89 "warm gray" is much darker than what you have which is simply called "gray". Use the '84 brochure. This gray looks darker than it really is.