Fixing scratch on side of boat over metallic flake.

[Longhorn1186]

Looking for some advice or experience from anyone who has done this. I have about a 6 inch scratch along the side of my boat where the metallic flake is. I am not sure if its through the gel coat and in the flake or not. My fingernail clicks over it but its not a gouge. My background has with paint is this. I have done paint correction and restoration on cars but not boats. I am aware there is a pretty good amount of gel coat over the paint and flake so I am hoping to fix it without doing anything to the flake. I was thinking of light wet sanding with 1500-2000 over the scratch, just enough to smooth it out, then a med-light compound and DA polisher followed by polish, seal and wax. I am hoping it will either take care of the scratch completely or at least get it to be less noticeable. Its a small enough scratch that I am willing to try since I have some experience with this and worst case will have to pay to have it removed if my effort does not work. Any advice would be great... the boat is reef blue metallic where the small scratch is.

Thanks in advance.

[Blamey]

The metallic flake is the gel coat. There is no paint on the boat.

I think you are confusing a clear coat and gel coat. The gel coat is colored and doesn't have a clear top coat.

To repair you just need to buff or compound the scratch. If it's too deep to buff out then wet sand it. If if is very deep then you need to repair the damage with a repair kit.

Gel coat is easy to work with and you should be able to get a patch kit for your color that should be a pretty good match.

You tube videos are probably best to get an idea of how to repair the scratch.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[Longhorn1186]

The metallic flake is the gel coat. There is no paint on the boat.

I think you are confusing a clear coat and gel coat. The gel coat is colored and doesn't have a clear top coat.

To repair you just need to buff or compound the scratch. If it's too deep to buff out then wet sand it. If if is very deep then you need to repair the damage with a repair kit.

Gel coat is easy to work with and you should be able to get a patch kit for your color that should be a pretty good match.

You tube videos are probably best to get an idea of how to repair the scratch.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Thank you so much. I was not sure. I have not worked on boats before other than simple waxing and polishing. Ill try then with 1500 or 2000 grit sand paper (wet) to smooth it out a little then a compound and polish. If that does not work ill let them repair it. I was not sure on clear coat vs gel coat... I was thinking there was a clear gel coat on top of the flake... what you said makes sense though. Thanks.

[Longhorn1186]

Spent a little time today but two 6 inch scratches are fixed. Wet sand, compound, polish seal and wax. Completely gone and good as new. I forgot to take a photo of the scratch before I started. It was deep enough for a thumbnail to catch.

[Longhorn1186]

Thank you Blamey for the tip on Gel Coat

[thedude]

Nice work! I always thought one couldn't wet sand metal flake (unlike non-flake), only the clear coat on top of the metal flake. I saw somewhere if you wet sand through the clear all the flakes will get sanded down and turn into a gray cloud looking area. Hope I'm wrong, and there actually is no clear coat. Maybe that only applies to '80s bass boats. I have a few scratches I'd like to fix myself.

[Longhorn1186]

Nice work! I always thought one couldn't wet sand metal flake (unlike non-flake), only the clear coat on top of the metal flake. I saw somewhere if you wet sand through the clear all the flakes will get sanded down and turn into a gray cloud looking area. Hope I'm wrong, and there actually is no clear coat. Maybe that only applies to '80s bass boats. I have a few scratches I'd like to fix myself.

I thought the same as I have only done paint correction and scratch work on cars. After a few discussions here and with the shop I learned that on metallic flake, its not a flake under the gelcoat. The flake is the gelcoat. Its all one mixture. At first I thought the same. Paint or flake then gelcoat on top. Ends up its all the same on the newer boats. Not sure on older boats. The project worked out great though., I sanded ever so carefully and by hand. I started at 1500 and worked to 2000 then 3000. One of the scratches I had to go as low as 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000. I was very very gentle with the 800 and 1000. I used a medium hybrid compound and polish with a compound pad then finished with a finishing pad and finishing polish. The amount it cost to get fixed with like 100-200 per 4 inch section so I figured I would give it a go and if it worked it would save me 500+ bucks. Worst case is I would get it fixed anyways if it did not work. Turns out it worked great and a huge sense of accomplishment knowing I can fix minor to moderate scratches.