Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

[TilliamWe]

Was cleaning the boat bottom, and I saw a chip, about dime sized in the gelcoat only, no glass damage. But I can see exposed fiberglass/resin. I do not have any repair materials on hand, and haven't odered any. My question is, can I use 5200 or 4200 sealer as a temporary sealant while I choose my true repair materials. Say about a month? I move slow! Thanks in advance.

 

[Chief101]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

You can use either tho the 5200 takes longer to dry it will make an almost permanent ugly patch. Since you will have to grind the glass for a permenant patch you can just gring all caulking away. I would try to get some matching gelcoat to do a perm patch with, using cabosil of course. Chief

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

I guess I didn't realize 5200 could be permanant. Ugly is not a real big deal either. But yeah, I figured the final repair would involve grinding, just glad to hear that the 5200 would still be grindable. Thanks Chief!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

Chief, come back! I looked up Cabosil, and I am not sure what the heck I would need. I thought all I needed was something like MarineTex epoxy. Why do I want Cabosil? And what's with the three different types? I'm confused! See why I thought 5200 wouldn't be bad! Can you walk me through this, real slow, and use small words?

 

[Chief101]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

Cabosil mixes with the gelcoat to make a putty. If you are going to use marine tex for the final patch than forget the cabosil. If you use 5200 as a temporary fix you need to be sure to grind it "all" away before you use MarineTex. Hope that takes away any confusion. Chief<br />By the way, 3M 5200 take a looong time to cure. In my experience at least a week.<br />If it were me I would grind out the chip and MarineTex or gelcoat putty to fix and forget the temp patch, but, the 3M stuff will hold for a long time. Chief

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

I understand better now, but not sure I'm 100%. Are you saying Marinetex will not be a pretty finished repair? And you say Cabosil mixes with the gelcoat to make a putty. What gelcoat? The stuff already on the boat, or is there a gelcoat component I need to get to mix with it? And if so, does that mean that the Cabosil makes for the prettiest, final repair?<br />I thought of 5200 cause I have it on hand. But I am thinking more and more to just do it once (with one of the above mentioned products), since I have to take it out of the water and trailer it home to work on it. Thanks again!

 

[Chief101]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

The outer skin of your hull is gelcoat and if you had some color matched gelcoat(mixed with cabosil) to repair it with you could have a strong and invisible repair(with a sand and buff). If you do the repair with Marinetex you will have a durable patch, with a spot of paint to cover the repair, that should last for the life of the hull.<br />If you are not comfy with the fix you can look in your local phone book for someone that repairs fiberglass bathtubs. They will have everything needed to do the job in just a few minutes, and a couple of bucks. Chief

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Chipped gelcoat below water line.. Chief 100, help

Now I understand completely. Around here, nothing is cheap, so I'll do it myself! Thanks for the product knowledge. This is the underside and very small, I'm going the marinetex route. But if I ever do a hullside or top deck I'll use Cabosil. Thanks again Chief!