Spectrum Gelcoat repair kit

[Evening Shade]

I have a couple small dings/scratches in my gel coat and I plan on repairing these with Spectrum gelcoat repair kit. Does anyone have any tips or pointers to make the repair look great?

[xrichard]

Grant has a good DIY over at WW. I've use the Silver Cloud kit with great results. I filled the chip above the level of the surrounding gel coat, sanded starting starting with wet 800 (I believe) and worked my way up to wet 2000. Then used a relatively rough cut 3M wool pad and Imperial Rubbing Compound followed by a finer cut 3M wool pad and Finesse It. At the end, you couldn't see the patch. It's mostly a matter of taking your time especially on the higher grit papers.

If the scratches are not to the underlying fiberglass, you might have success just sanding them out without filling. I've done that a number of times...basically the same steps as above but skipping the gel and instead feathering out the scratch with the lower grit papers. I've had some nasty looking scratches/chips that you absolutely could not find when finished.

[Evening Shade]

xrichard,
Thanks for the great feedback. I think I just need the confidence to know that I can do it and not make it look worse than it is right now.

[ZIRB3L]

Does anyone have any experience matching hull colors on a repair? I have a couple nasty gouges that need to be filled but my hull is blue and the repair will be a blaring white.

Just wondering.

[Evening Shade]

ZIRB3L,

Email Correct Craft with your hull ID# and ask them what ur gelcoat color is. They can even email the build sheet of your boat to you. Once u know the color u can order the exact color in a Spectrum patch kit.