Do I use Gel Coat or Marine Tex for repair??

[nick7744]

I just finished adjusting my trailer because my bunks were grinding on my gelcoat when loading and unloading. Hopefully I have solved the problem. Now I need to repair the area where it is scraped. To look at the area it kinda looks like the black from the bunks have rubbed off on the area. But if you took your hand and slid it up and down across the scrape you would notice an indent about 2 inches across and about 2 feet long. The black is the fiberglass behind the gelcoat. I contacted a gelcoat repair place and they gave me a quoat. For several reasons I need to wait until November to get it professionally repaired. The gel coat guy said that I could repair it myself now and he would go over the entire area later and it would not effect his repair job.

I stopped by West Marine and they had a can of Finish Gel Coat and a box box of Marine-Tex. I also bought some colors to attempt to match the best I can. Never know, if I get it close enough I will not need to have it repaired. Which one would you use to do this area?? Finish Gel Coat of Marine Tex. I have never worked with either. I have done drywall mud. It looks like it would be simular. Here is the picture. Not the greatest because I was actually taking a picture of something else. But you can see the scrape on the top of the picture. Its about 2 feet long. Thanks

[rtg]

Marine Tex is rock hard and likely will not come off again unless there is hard impact where the Marine Tex is. However, gel coat will not stick to the Marine Tex. So if you want to gel coat stay away from the Marine Tex.

Rob

[Pez Vela]

Gel coat all the way. I was faced with a similar repair simply because of long term use and an uncountable number of launchings. I brushed the gel coat and applied quite a few coats to build it up, but there may be better ways to do it.

[gcmiller]

Gel coat all the way. I've used both and the Marinetex is easy to work with, but nearly impossible to get the color right, gelcoat won't stick to it and it just looks more amateur when the job is complete. Once I actually used gelcoat I realized it's not that much more work and it looks so much more professional. With a little effort you won't even know the work has been done. The very best thing to do is to get the correct gelcoat color from the manufacturer and then you don't need to try and match the color as it it will be done for you.

Gary

[bamaboy473]

PezVela and gcMiller get my vote, too. You can apply the gelcoat with a credit card or equally stiff, yet flexible object. I use the junk credit cards I get in the mail and then just toss them.

You'll wet-sand the finished product and the adjacent areas to get the boat looking white again. Start with 400, then 600, then 1000 and up to 1500 if you want a pro job. You might want to stop early, depending on how much you're willing to accept.

Rubbing compound, polishing compound will finish the job like a pro did it. If you can do sheetrock, you can do this.

[Gillotine]

Marine Tex is great stuff if you don't care what the repair looks like. It's way to hard to sand
and is not made to be colored. If white, or gray and ugly and bulletproof is OK, then use it.Otherwise, gelcoat.

[Curmudgeon]

White Marine-Tex tints just fine (no more than 5%). They both are sandable, although the hardness doesn't necessarily make it easy...

[miike]

gel coat

[outrage17]

Gel coat only. You can gel coat to match your color of your boat. I get mine from Spectrum color. No one will know/see the dings.

[nick7744]

I actually called Spectrum color and they have color for the Sea Pro SV2100 boat in a 2007 model. I have a 2001 model. So It would probably be a guess if it would match.

[Pez Vela]

If the model year hull color appears close, what do you have to lose? Put on a coat and see how you like it. Add some pigment before the next coat as needed. We're talking about a relatively small area below the waterline, so perfection shouldn't be critical.

[Silverbullet]

I need to do a similar repair on the bottom of our boat. Just need to find the time and lift the boat off the bunks. After I do the below the water line area I would like to do some other small repairs.