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Author Topic:   Gelcoat worn down on bow ridge

JeffA posted 07-29-2002 06:33 PM ET (US)
The gelcoat is worn down to the blue laminate on my bow ridge (about 12" long by about 2" wide) from the previous owner running up on sand. It does'nt appear that the blue laminate was ground down very much if any; only the white gell coat. Could anyone recommend a fix. This area obviously makes contact with the rollers on my trailer so it's essentially a high stress area and I don't want my repair to crumble in a short time. I was think of doing a bit of rough sanding and filling of any small voids in the laminate with a high quality filler. There is one area about the size of a quarter (circumference) and about a half inch deep where the blue laminate is worn down a little more where I was thinking of using a high quality filler. For the rest of the area where the blue laminate is showing I was thinking of slowly building up the gelcoat layer by layer. Please let me know if I'm on the right track.
Thanks,
Jeff
lhg posted 07-29-2002 06:36 PM ET (US)
I'm not an expert on this, but it sounds like a spray gelcoat situation. A good shop could do it for you, I'm sure.
prj posted 07-29-2002 06:52 PM ET (US)
i think you are referring to the keel due to your stated cause.
scroll down deeper than "last 10 days" indicated on the right of your screen and search for threads on "keelguards". both pros and cons therein and likely a discussion of alternates.
good luck
Taylor posted 07-29-2002 08:33 PM ET (US)
One thread that prj is suggesting is at http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001988.html and there is a link there to a picture of the damage I had on my keel. Sounds like a similar situation, it must be pretty common. I repaired it with Marine-Tex (a high quality filler) and put on a Keel Guard.
Gelcoat is just a temporary repair if you beach your boat.
newt posted 07-30-2002 07:39 AM ET (US)
JEff,
I am 80% done with a similar repair on my '84 montauk. I had a 4' long scrape down to the blue glass and one 3" long section just trhough to the foam. I drilled a couple of holes and luckily everything is well dried out. I went to west marine and bought the west system epoxy with a couple different fillers, and have built it all back up. ONly thing that is left is to put a couple layers of barrier coat on.
It really wasnt too hard to fix up. I am going to skip the gel coat completely for now so I can get the boat in the water. I think that the pure epoxy without fillers should seal it up alright.
Try buying the west system patch kit ($25 +-), as it doesnt take that much material to fill in the scrapes.
Definitely go back through the older threads...there is a ton of info on repairing scrapes.

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Author	Topic: Gelcoat worn down on bow ridge
JeffA	posted 07-29-2002 06:33 PM ET (US) The gelcoat is worn down to the blue laminate on my bow ridge (about 12" long by about 2" wide) from the previous owner running up on sand. It does'nt appear that the blue laminate was ground down very much if any; only the white gell coat. Could anyone recommend a fix. This area obviously makes contact with the rollers on my trailer so it's essentially a high stress area and I don't want my repair to crumble in a short time. I was think of doing a bit of rough sanding and filling of any small voids in the laminate with a high quality filler. There is one area about the size of a quarter (circumference) and about a half inch deep where the blue laminate is worn down a little more where I was thinking of using a high quality filler. For the rest of the area where the blue laminate is showing I was thinking of slowly building up the gelcoat layer by layer. Please let me know if I'm on the right track. Thanks, Jeff
lhg	posted 07-29-2002 06:36 PM ET (US) I'm not an expert on this, but it sounds like a spray gelcoat situation. A good shop could do it for you, I'm sure.
prj	posted 07-29-2002 06:52 PM ET (US) i think you are referring to the keel due to your stated cause. scroll down deeper than "last 10 days" indicated on the right of your screen and search for threads on "keelguards". both pros and cons therein and likely a discussion of alternates. good luck
Taylor	posted 07-29-2002 08:33 PM ET (US) One thread that prj is suggesting is at http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001988.html and there is a link there to a picture of the damage I had on my keel. Sounds like a similar situation, it must be pretty common. I repaired it with Marine-Tex (a high quality filler) and put on a Keel Guard. Gelcoat is just a temporary repair if you beach your boat.
newt	posted 07-30-2002 07:39 AM ET (US) JEff, I am 80% done with a similar repair on my '84 montauk. I had a 4' long scrape down to the blue glass and one 3" long section just trhough to the foam. I drilled a couple of holes and luckily everything is well dried out. I went to west marine and bought the west system epoxy with a couple different fillers, and have built it all back up. ONly thing that is left is to put a couple layers of barrier coat on. It really wasnt too hard to fix up. I am going to skip the gel coat completely for now so I can get the boat in the water. I think that the pure epoxy without fillers should seal it up alright. Try buying the west system patch kit ($25 +-), as it doesnt take that much material to fill in the scrapes. Definitely go back through the older threads...there is a ton of info on repairing scrapes.