Gel Coat Scratch-anyway to repair?

[My 2 Dogs]

I've got my first scratch on my boat I have two 4-6 inch scratchs from hitting something? It is on the blue part of the gel coat and I can see white underneath. Is there anyway to repair this without having to take it into the shop?

HELP. I know these are not big but I swear they are huge as I just keep looking at them. ahhhhh!

M2D's

[sheeprides]

Depending on how deep they are, you probably should have them professionally removed. I have done some light wet-sanding to take out a scratch on the under side of my boat and it came out perfect but I don't think I'd have attempted it on the colored gel coat. The good news is that once they're repaired, you'll never know they were there.

[obski]

Check out this discussion of the topic.

[Ronnie]

Don't know exactly what you have but this might help.

Gel repair from Malibu's website.

[WakeGirl]

I've got my first scratch on my boat I have two 4-6 inch scratchs from hitting something? It is on the blue part of the gel coat and I can see white underneath. Is there anyway to repair this without having to take it into the shop?

HELP. I know these are not big but I swear they are huge as I just keep looking at them. ahhhhh!

M2D's

It doesn't sound good if you can see white underneath. With it being that deep, no way would I try to fix it. I'd take that to a professional & see what they say. I'm not saying that you should do that, it's just what I would do.

[My 2 Dogs]

I've got my first scratch on my boat I have two 4-6 inch scratchs from hitting something? It is on the blue part of the gel coat and I can see white underneath. Is there anyway to repair this without having to take it into the shop?

HELP. I know these are not big but I swear they are huge as I just keep looking at them. ahhhhh!

M2D's

It doesn't sound good if you can see white underneath. With it being that deep, no way would I try to fix it. I'd take that to a professional & see what they say. I'm not saying that you should do that, it's just what I would do.

thanks. That is what I thought since you can see the white and I am very nervous about putting sand paper to it.

Does anyone have an idea of costs to repair?

M2D's

[WakeGirl]

I couldn't tell you, sorry. Plus I'm sure that it varies from shop to shop, as well as with the severity of the damage.

[BrianM]

I've got my first scratch on my boat I have two 4-6 inch scratchs from hitting something? It is on the blue part of the gel coat and I can see white underneath. Is there anyway to repair this without having to take it into the shop?

HELP. I know these are not big but I swear they are huge as I just keep looking at them. ahhhhh!

M2D's

If you just see a little white in the scratch it is probably sandable. That is just the unpolished gel. There is usually a layer of black gel behind whatever color your hull is in that area. If you start sanding and see a speck of black then you have gone through the color. If your nail just catches in the scratch it is doable if it is deeper than that then maybe not. It is worth a shot.

Wet sand with 600 just until the scratch disappears. Then wet sand with 1500 to polish off the light scratches. (keep the paper very wet with water that has just a couple of drops of soap in it. Rinse often to see your progress) I follow that up with some 3m super duty rubbing combound by hand. Follow that up with 3m cleaner wax and it should look good as new. I did this twice on my MC in the red color stripe and just did some pretty nasty looking scratches on the transom of my friends Sportster in dark blue gel. Looks good as new.

[obski]

If you need to add gelcoat to the repair (if it is deeper) you can buy patch kits from Spectrum Color. They also have instructions on their website. I have used this before on some deep scratches and while it wasn't perfect, it was close. You could only see the repair if you knew where to look, and then looked really closely. I think I could do a better job now after some experience, but it really isn't that hard. I hope I don't need to gain too much more experience, but things happen.

[RoverOn]

Gel coat repair is MUCH cheaper than fixing dents and scratches on a car....

I have 3 or 4 spots on my boat last year and it was less than $150 to fix (one was a chip in the transom from a stick)

Anyway I would bet you could have them fixed for $50 or less.

I would wait until winter to fix them and then you can get everything else done at the same time.

If it really bothers you, get a blue Sharpie and color it in for now

Edited July 6, 2006 by RoverOn

[My 2 Dogs]

thanks everyone for the help. I was going to wait until the season was over so in case there were any other marks I could fix them all at once.

hope to see you all at the WOW coming up!

[stewart]

BrianM gave some good advice on how to do the repair. If there is a inconspicuous spot, I would try to repair a small section of it. Just take your time.......

If you don't feel comfortable with doing it yourself, just wait until winter to get it done. Why burn up a couple of weeks letting it sit at a shop. Plus, like it or not, those may not be the only scratches you get this season.

On a positive note, at least your boat is broke-in

See you at WOW!

[UWSkier]

Are they scratches or gouges? Big difference. Scratches you can usually rub and polish out. Gouges require filling, color matching, etc...

[Sunsetter95]

I've got my first scratch on my boat I have two 4-6 inch scratchs from hitting something? It is on the blue part of the gel coat and I can see white underneath. Is there anyway to repair this without having to take it into the shop?

HELP. I know these are not big but I swear they are huge as I just keep looking at them. ahhhhh!

M2D's

It doesn't sound good if you can see white underneath. With it being that deep, no way would I try to fix it. I'd take that to a professional & see what they say. I'm not saying that you should do that, it's just what I would do.

thanks. That is what I thought since you can see the white and I am very nervous about putting sand paper to it.

Does anyone have an idea of costs to repair?

M2D's

I've posted this pic before. The cost to repair the crack and gelcoat has been estimated at two shops for $300-$345. That does not include the rubrail. I would think a gouge would be much cheaper. West Marine sells a gel coat repair kit, but you have to mix the color to match. I've used it and it really sticks and is very hard, sands out and buffs out very nice.

Do you trust your color matching ability? Well do ya?