Need Opinion On Cosmetic Gelcoat Repair

[AirTool]

Here is a picture of a few dings to my gelcoat courtesy of the previous owner. One of only three minor flaws in a 16 month old boat.

It has been years since I've repaired gelcoat with MarineTex. I'm sure there are many products now. Please offer your suggestion as to the material to use and any techniques that might make these dings invisible.

Thanks in advance.

[DanielC]

RE: Need Opinion On Cosmetic Gelcoat Repair

www.spectrumcolor.com has matching gelcoat. If you have repaired with marinetex, you probably can do a much better job with actual gelcoat.

[bchesley]

RE: Need Opinion On Cosmetic Gelcoat Repair

Call your dealer and they can order a paste patch kit in the factory color. They retail for like 25 bucks and come with hardener. Super easy because it comes in a paste that is easy to work with.

[crowland]

Airtool, you got easy and easy fix bro. Here is the gel coat that I am having repaired (replaced).

I am the unfortunate victim of gelcoat blistering (or boat cancer as I prefer). I will be having the entire gelcoat underneath replaced, and its going to be at little more pricey than a $25 repair kit!!

Forget the "wraps" on the new mastercraft models, my boat is sportin the polka dotted look for '08!!

[AirTool]

Ouch.

[ffmedic74]

Crowland,

I would fight CC tool and nail over your boat if its within the 5 year warranty. CC will tell you in the owners manual that blistering is ok, but if you do a search on the internet you will find that it is NOT.

[bobchris]

Crowland,

I would fight CC tool and nail over your boat if its within the 5 year warranty. CC will tell you in the owners manual that blistering is ok, but if you do a search on the internet you will find that it is NOT.

it's cosmitic and not CC's fault it blistered, it's the owners for having a dirty hull and leaving it in the water. All that is going to do is prevent the water from leaving the gel-kote and cause a blister. Gel-kote is porous and not water tight the fiberglass behind the gel-kote is water tight. So if the hull is dirty or has a heavy wax coat then the water cannot release from the gel-kote coat and will cause blisters. Good luck getting warrenty just don't see that happening for you unfortunately.

[jc]

I have never seen ''blistering'' before. And I have seen alot of boats first hand that spend the whole season on the dock, CC's included. Leaving a dirty hull in the water seems like kind of a cop out, it is made for the water. What else would cause it? Heat, salt?

[bobchris]

the only thing that causes blister is the pores in the gel-kote getting clogged with dirt, wax or something that prevents the water from draining (lack of a better term) back out of the gel-kote and it gets trapped and forms the blister over time. If you are going to leave it in the water all of the time then you need a shore station or you need to leave the hull un-waxed and need to scrub the hull below the water line regularly or over time you will get blisters.

[greagin]

so what should you clean your boat hull with? should you ever wax it or clean it only? i have a 1995 snob and the hull looks great, but i would like to know what to do to keep it that way. any advice on cleaning agents or techniques would be appreciated.

[bobchris]

Everytime I waxed my boat it would always yellow quickly below the water line so I stopped waxing below the water line and I would use a teflon scrub pad on the hull when I was out at the sand bar and it helped mine out a ton. Any cleaner is going to work fine I just wouldn't wax below the water line.

[TRBenj]

Everytime I waxed my boat it would always yellow quickly below the water line so I stopped waxing below the water line and I would use a teflon scrub pad on the hull when I was out at the sand bar and it helped mine out a ton. Any cleaner is going to work fine I just wouldn't wax below the water line.

Chris, Ive told you before that I think you have a special case- Im guessing there is some mineral in the water where you kept the boat that would cause the discoloration. Ive never seen anything like that happen to waxed boats around here (or anywhere, actually). Im not saying its not a valid point, but telling someone not to wax the bottom of their boat isnt necessarily good advice, IMHO.

[chris196]

What value does waxing below the water line have?
I'm curious here, what is it helping?

[crowland]

Crowland,

I would fight CC tool and nail over your boat if its within the 5 year warranty. CC will tell you in the owners manual that blistering is ok, but if you do a search on the internet you will find that it is NOT.

it's cosmitic and not CC's fault it blistered, it's the owners for having a dirty hull and leaving it in the water. All that is going to do is prevent the water from leaving the gel-kote and cause a blister. Gel-kote is porous and not water tight the fiberglass behind the gel-kote is water tight. So if the hull is dirty or has a heavy wax coat then the water cannot release from the gel-kote coat and will cause blisters. Good luck getting warrenty just don't see that happening for you unfortunately.

Bobchris,

I think there are varying opinions out there on whether or not the wax is a good thing or not. Ultimately from the research that I have done if you are leaving your boat in the water you should invest in having the hull painted with an epoxy barrier or alkyd-urethane-silicone marine paint. Letting the boat sit in the water was not the issue with my boat, it was stored on a lift and only left in the water for a couple of months because the lake was too low to get it on the lift.

I have actually found in the owners manual, section 6.7: "If you will be keeping your boat in the water for ANY period of time, we suggest that the wetted surface of the hull be painted with an epoxy paint formulated for blister protection" -- the word ANY is actually in all caps in the manual too....

So I guess they are telling the owners that unless you are planning on using your boat on dry land you are ok, but if you plan on putting it in the water for ANY amount of time you should have it painted. Seems like a cop out on CCs part, but that is my 2 cents...

CC has actually been great in dealing with the gel coat issue, afterall the boat does say Correct Craft on it. And while they are not paying for the full replacement, since I am not the orginal owner and the 5 year warranty is non-transferrable. I am therefore an unitentional 3rd party beneficiary to the warranty. CC had made a "policy adjustment" and are making things right. CC never admitted fault to a flaw in the gelcoat, but the my gelcoat man stands to agrue that the gel coat product was flawed. I tend to trust his judgement since he has seen the boat in person and has been repairing fiberglass for many years.

[bobchris]

Letting the boat sit in the water was not the issue with my boat, it was stored on a lift and only left in the water for a couple of months because the lake was too low to get it on the lift.
.

so you left it on a lift with a dirty hull maybe even waxed too. So now what do we have hard dried out dirt embeaded in the pores of the gel-kote. Then you stick it in the water and trap more water. Gel-kote isn't the problem, not in the type or the manufacturing process that created it. It's all operator error that caused it. It's common knowledge that gel-kote is porous and not water tight never has been never will be. That's why you see all of the big cruise have bottom paint on top of the bearier coat, just doesn't look right on a ski boat and most are trailered so all that is needed is to wipe it down after each use, which isn't going to happen storing it on a boat lift and it's going to get cleaned very little sitting on a lift. **** my blisters on my old boat actually got better, released the trapped water, after I bought it and quit waxing below the waterline and scrubbed it down all of the time and it sat in the water for 6 month straight every year. Damage was alreay done, but the bumps/blisters smoothed out over time compared to the bubbles that where on it when I bought it. So if you do leave it in the water scrub the hull everytime your out and you won't have a problem.