CONTINUOUSWAVE

[Separated from a thread on another topic and moved here.--jimh]

I'm at the early stages of a tank replacement project. I'm sure I will need to do some gel coat repair. I'm new to working with gel coat resin and epoxy resin. I am looking forward to learning how to properly apply them. The repairs will mostly be cracks, some chips, and plugging and blending old screw holes that serve no purpose. If I want to attempt to repair, if I understand the process, I need to first fill a small hole with epoxy, then either tint gel coat or paint with AwlGrip? Then sand and polish?

I haven't reached this. I haven't searched the archives yet.

Regarding your specific question on sanding and polishing the finish top coat layer: if you choose to use a paint as the top coat layer, you cannot sand the paint. The thickness of a layer of paint is too small to permit imperfections to be removed by sanding.

For advice on making repairs to a Boston Whaler boat you should begin by reading the FAQ's answer on this topic:

Q5: How Do I Repair Damage to the Hull?
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/FAQ/#Q5

After you have carefully read all the articles linked from the FAQ for understanding--not browsing them--and if there remains some aspect of the processes described in those articles that you do not understand and need further elaboration, then please start a new thread with those specific questions. The general topic of how to make repairs to fiberglass boats is too large for readers to answer a general inquiry, and randomly organized replies are not particularly useful; you could get a hodge-podge of answers on such a wide topic.

Just about every thread in the REPAIRS and MODIFICATION forum contains some advice on making repairs. Reading some of these prior discussions about making repairs will also be useful for you to gain information. For example, here is a thread whose topic covers many aspects of the repair of small areas of damage:

1989 15-footer Rough Gel Coat
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1828

This above thread gives detailed instructions on a method for making repairs to small holes that were previously used to hold screw fasteners. If you carefully read the linked thread you will learn the method suggested in the thread.