Wow gel is expensive!

[Oletela]

So I got my boat back from the interior shop and now need to tackle a spot from the previous owner. Buxton referred me to Dallas Ski Boats which came in with a quote of 912. Waterski America had a quote of 1000. I was also referred to an old fiberglass guy by a former boss which quoted 1200 to make the repair. All of these seem pretty steep to me for such a small area? Would it really be 8 hours of labor to fix those 2 areas? I am half tempted to try it myself and see how it comes out or does anybody else have any gel recommendations for here in DFW?

[Treybizttu]

Ouch.... I have larger areas than that and will need to get them fixed here locally as well. (Dallas Ski Boats was on my list of folks to call)

Guess it's time to read up and learn how to do it myself.

[jhersey29]

Spectrum Gel coat repair kits on nautiqueparts.com are very easy to work with.
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[core-rider]

Remember they aren't just slapping some gelcoat on the hole and giving your boat back. Most of the labor will be time consuming wet sanding, buffing, polishing to get a smooth scratch-free surface again. 8 hours seems about right on time. $114-150/hour seems a bit high, but I've always patched dings myself and never had a price quote.

It is labor intensive, time-consuming work but if you are comfortable with it and take your time those dings look well within a DIY project. The main problem is once you wet sand those areas everything else will look poor in comparison so you may as well budget money or time into buffing and possibly wet sanding the entire boat for a uniform look.

[robertsmcfarland]

I can't sign my name the same way,,thats how little artistic talent I have but tried fixing a ding that looks close to your pic using spectrum products, if you have the time you can can do the job and will be flawless , just read the literature and watch YouTube, it might take 8 hours, but you are only working about 15 min of each hour, I did mine on the boat lift over a week. just work on it for a few minutes and came down the next day and so on...... you have to let the the different stuff dry, between coats, and layers , thats why it takes so long...also did not have to wet sand the whole boat...use painter tape to go around ding,, that way your work stays within your 2 inch perimeter ..

[cedarcreek216]

I can tell you Brandon and the guys at Dallas Ski Boats do an incredible job. I had about a quarter size ding in a dark blue area of my last boat and took it to them. I was convinced there was no way they would be able to make it blend since I was sure the dark color had faded or oxidized over the years. When I picked it up I could not remember which side of the nose the mark was on and there was no way I was finding it after their repair.

Let them do the work and know you are getting a great job done.


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[Rrichr]

If you don't make 1200 dollars a day yourself or that is considered a luxury it just takes patience. Even if you try it yourself and don't like how it came out you can take it to them to fix. But if you like it, just think how proud you will feel that you fixed it yourself.

[Oletela]

I think I will go ahead and do some research and order those patch kits. Looks like I need titanium grey and not sure which red?

[pe4me]

Call spectrum and DIY. I dont know that I would do the patch though. Get boat bondo, the recommended equivalent, fill in and sand to match, spray, wet-sand the orange peel and get a professional result. I never did body work and I did some major repair and no one could tell what was what. The beauty is if its messed up, us just redo using the same steps. I looked on-line and used directions/sites from 2004. 150 bucks in material...thats a lot of beer money

[xrichard]

Grant put up a DIY on Wakeworld using Spectrum to fix a bunch of issues. I've used it myself and found his guide helpful. Take your time, build it up so the patch is higher than the surrounding area, sand your way to 2000 grit paper and make the patch level with the surrounding gel coat, then hit it with rubbing and then finishing compound...you won't be able to see it. If you don't have any color matching issues, then 8 hours is on the long side. If there are color matching problems, I'd take it to a pro.

[pe4me]

My particular boat was faded so bad we purchased thinking it was gray...it was purple. As Richard said, follow the multitude of steps and if you wet sand you get rid of all (99%) fading and color matching issues go away. Spraying new gel (apposed to patch) allows you to blend by over shooting a little more.
1 caveat, if you have an oxidized boat...at all you will have to think about doing the entire hull. In my case I it needed to be done. Each case is unique and you may find that you have to do a big section to buff everything to an equal, acceptable shine. IMHO- its a win win.

[Treybizttu]

Grant's DIY stuff on WakeWorld makes me feel like kicking rocks at my boat.

To the OP.... I got ambitious last night and filled the orig speedo holes on my Pro Air as a warm up to tackling some of the gouges on the front of the boat. It was time consuming but the final product looks great. I wet sanded smooth this morning and I will get out the buffer later today after I leave the office. I also have zero patience or artistic ability.

Give it a go yourself!

[Oletela]

I'm going to give it a go. I emailed nautique last night and got the build sheet with my colors. Titanium grey and patriot red. How far do those jars from nautique parts go? And I'm pretty sure I'll need to do a little filling on the spot in the grey, what needs to be used to fill?

[xlair]

One thing to note is that Spectrum has stopped selling the paste patch kits for a lot of the older boats. If you go on nautique parts or Spectrum's website most of the kits are for new boats made in the last couple of years.

Bummer because I have a 2000 SN I'm working on that has the cream/neutral hull that needs a lot of help. Spectrum has discontinued production of the kit so my options are to either try to match color with an off the shelf kit or buy a $135 quart of gel from Spectrum.

[pe4me]

Use any waterproof filler, even though it will be covered with gel, want something that works in our environment...insurance. Depending on application a quart will do a good size area, plenty for the amount of your pics. Something like 20 sqft/gallon. You can also cut the gel but 20 sticks in my head because I remember thinking it was way more than I needed for one of the colors I ordered. Personally, a patch is just that, a patch. I looked at some good and some not so good. If you had a small chip, a small blemish from trailer mishap...no problem. But to get any area to look like new, IMHO you sand out with 40ish grit (ouch, but thats the deal), put in your filler where needed sand filler with an 80ish down 200ish and then spray your gel. Sand gel to polish and see the result.
With a quart you would have plenty to practice getting the materials/gun and everything adjusted especially if you have never worked it before. I still have the harbor freight special HVLP gun I used on the project.
I would call spectrum follow their recommendations. They were great to work with.