Hit a rock, damaged gelcoat

[Noelb]

As I drove the boat toward the lift in strong winds, I somehow hit a rock and made a small dent in the gelcoat. It's about the size of a quarter and although there has also been some damage to the fiberglass, it doesn't seem deep and the boat is apparently not taking in water. Boat is a brand new Nautique 200. The gash is about 2" below the water line. My questions:


- will I make the damage worse by using the boat? I figure that our season is over in a month so I wanted to wait till it's winter maintenance time before bringing it in for repair. If I'm only skiing 4-6 sets per week and the boat stays on the lift in between sets, am I right in assuming that it's ok?

- Is the dealer the best place to get this repair done?

- Please tell me it won't show once the repair is done. Fortunately, as far as colour match goes, it is on a white section of the hull. However it is along an area where there is a spine/corner, so hopefully the original shape of the hull will be restored.

- What should I ecpect this repair to cost? Fom what I've read so far, it seems like about 400 to 600, does this sound right?

Thanks

[mastercard]

Any competent gel coat repair person should be able to pull it off without any problem. Just ask around about fiberglass/gel in your area. Using your boat wont make it worse. If you are concerned tho, you can clean the area real good and apply gorilla tape to the affected area. I've used it on many diferent types of watercraft from stump jumpin aluminum boats that had a full blown hole in the hull to fiberglass boats.

[mf01]

I used this company: http://www.spectrumcolor.com/default.asp

Worked great.

[swc5150]

Anyone know if CC's late 90's tan hull is coffee cream from Spectrum?

[DanielC]

Using the boat may cause more damage, it depends on where the damage is, and how water hits that damaged area of the boat.
An analogy that comes to mind, is the space shuttle. Many safe landings were made with damaged heat shield tiles on the shuttle. However, damage on the leading edge of the wing caused one to break up on reentry.

If you really do not know if it is OK, take the boat to your dealer, and explain your situation to them. They may say go ahead, and use the boat. They may also strongly recommend you get the gelcoat on the boat fixed.

If the boat was a 10,000 or a 20,000 dollar boat, I think I would go ahead and use it. A 200 ski is worth a lot more than that. Protect your investment.

[jmo]

if the impact chipped the gelcoat and exposed the fiberglass underneath (you see black if the fiberglass is exposed) then you have to worry about water getting inbetween the gelcoat and the fiberglass and causing seperation/bubbling in the gelcoat. Usage for a few more weeks given its on a lift shouldn't be an issue IMHO.

might take awhile for your local gelcoat expert to get to it.

if you post a picture of the "dent" that would help.