Gel coat chip, how urgent to fix?

[BoatFisho]

Got a chip on bottom my transom, the usual. Dont know how many boats ive seen with transom gel coat chips lol.

Got another smaller one further up the hull, but its little.

Glass underneath showing.

This is on a 13' RIB.

How urgent is it. I mean how waterproof is bare fiberglass? Its been like that for a while and nothings happened yet.

But I am getting it dealt to soon, but curious how many boats have chips that never get repaired.

 

[Bob_VT]

Get a "bondo" marine stick. < Google it! It is an epoxy that will cure underwater and just tear a chunk off, knead it and cover the exposed glass. You want to make sure witer does not infiltrate the glass fibers. Then go boating.

The repair will last forever however, if you are concerned about good looks then use the epoxy now and the gel coat repair kit in the off season for the pretty repair. You will have to remove the epoxy by sanding it off.

 

[Texasmark]

Get a "bondo" marine stick. < Google it! It is an epoxy that will cure underwater and just tear a chunk off, knead it and cover the exposed glass. You want to make sure witer does not infiltrate the glass fibers. Then go boating.

The repair will last forever however, if you are concerned about good looks then use the epoxy now and the gel coat repair kit in the off season for the pretty repair. You will have to remove the epoxy by sanding it off.

Bob, I thought the opposite on infiltration but have no evidence to back it up. What's your experience with it? I realize that if you have FG matting or choppings on top of wood that the wood can/could get the water and deteriorate, but glass and resin?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[ondarvr]

While long term it could cause a slight issue, on a typical boat it will make no difference, you could leave it as is for the next several decades and you wouldn't notice anything unusual. It's a cosmetic concern, not a structural or harmful one.

 

[BoatFisho]

How long does it take to get water passing through glass? If you only put the boat in the water 3 hours a week etc.

I see so many boats that never get gel coat chips fixed.

 

[Woodonglass]

How long does it take to get water passing through glass? If you only put the boat in the water 3 hours a week etc.

I see so many boats that never get gel coat chips fixed.

A Long Time!!! If you left it in for Months and it wouldn't absorb water!

 

[BoatFisho]

Thanks Woodonglass, sometimes thats all i want to hear is common sense as a newbie to things (glass boats). You know when you find something wrong with something you are not an expert in and you panic and think, aggggh its going to destroy it.

The boat is in the water 3-4 hours MAX once a week, sometimes every second week. It is then stored in a dry garage that gets quite warm and dry during the day.

 

[ondarvr]

At that rate you only have about 300 years left before you need to fix it.

 

[BoatFisho]

Hehe. So fiberglass isnt as permeable as i thought. Id imagine though if it was a moored yacht for example it would be a different story.

 

[ondarvr]

Sort of, water will permeate anything, and while the gel coat will slow the water down, if left in the water it will eventually reach the resin. So whether there is gel coat or not, if the laminate is going to have problems, it will either way. There are barrier coats that can go between the resin and gel coat to help protect against water absorption, but those are fairly recent products, so older boats won't have them.

When the laminate is only exposed to water for a short amount of time the water doesn't have enough time to soak in.

 

[BoatFisho]

I was going to have the chips professionally repaired as last time i tried gel coat it didnt look great as it was uneven. now ive learnt a lot about levelling and going through different layers of wet and dry im confident i can do an acceptable job. i was going to do all the chips in one day, but to be honest i might take them one at a time and concentrate on quality instead of rushing it as we are intending to head out in 4 days.

 

[Woodonglass]

Soooo, what's your method/technique for repairing the chips/gouges??

 

[BoatFisho]

I follow an online tutorial on youtube. Sand out the chips with 320, fill the gouges with GC mixture, once dry 320 grit to fairly flat, go through wet dry ranges till 2000 grit, then cut n polish.