Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

[Rellik546]

I just bought a 1988 wellcraft 170 classic. apart from needing a much needed scrub down the hull is in pretty solid condition minus 3 gouges.

what would be the proper way to repair these?
bondo? or marine tex? then resin, or should i glass over it?


The boat is chaulky and i want to restore its shine, ive read forums on how to wet sand then rubbing compound then polish and wax. however how do i paint over the repair? do i primmer then use paint then gelcoat? i have no clue as how to do this properly. i dont mind spending extra to use marine products as that is the right way to do it. unless automotive paint can be used or it doesnt matter?

if someone could just lay out the process from start to finish it would be a huge help. ive read through restoration projects but havent found detailed outlined steps.

Thanks for your help. i attached pictures i think? im new to the forums at least posting to them. i can take more pictures if needed.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

First off Welcome to iBoats. Lots of help here!!!! Second the scratches and gouges pictures can be fixed realtively easily. Your boat is more than likely NOT painted but rather GelCoated. Gel Coat is similar to paint but in Marine use much more durable. If you want to do this repair yourself and have the blue "Color Match" exactly then this will be a little more difficult in that mixing gelcoat to match faded gel coat can really be a challenge. On the other hand since it is above the water line you could just as easily do the repairs and then sand and PAINT the blue stripe. Totally your choice. Some questions first. Are the gouges soft and spongy and can you feel the glass give on the INSIDE of the hull? Can you see any evidence of cracking or bulging on the inside of the hull? This damage appears to be from the boat doing some serious scraping on some object that could have caused the hull to flex and break the laminiation of the glass in more than just the gouged out areas. IF you do NOT see any evidence of other structural damage then it will be a fairly straigtforward fix. If the gouges are spongy then you will need to fix both the inside and outside of the hull. If the gouges are solid then this will be the easiest fix of all. Let us know what you find.

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

thanks woodonglass

I just went out and checked it. it appears as if the glass is fine, it is not ripped or cut, no bubbles or separation. it looks as if the gelcoat was just scraped off. that blue stripe around the boat has lots of scratches, not nearly as bad as the pictures i posted. rather just surface scratches. i heard gelcoat can be difficult to work with. im very hands on and have confident in doing work after thoroughly researching. how hard would it be to do the entire blue strip, it would look better and all be the same color, as well as not chaulky. after you gelcoat is there a clear coat? or is the gelcoat the top coat? also how much gelcoat would i need to do the entire stripe? (ball park average). its a 17' boat.

and if that is too much or too overwelming for me at the moment. what is needed just to fix the gouges so water wont get in. as well as making it look better even if the color match isnt perfect

here are a couple more pictures of the gouges up close
the single one is the biggest of the 3.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

For the gouges, get a RO sander with 60 grit and sand out an area 2-3 inches all the way around the gouge feathering it it in to the deepest point. You can get a Fiberglass repair kit from Autozone that will have tha material you will need. You will cut your glass matt patches to fit the area starting at the smallest point and then making them about an inch larger until you get the thickness needed and the area needed to cover the sanded area. (See Attached Diagram) Mix the resin and hardener follow directions on can, coat the area place the patch, coat with resin watch for runs, wait for it to harden, sand to remove wax from resin, Mix the gel coat follow direction with product to match as best you can, brush it on, 2,3 coats, sand 220 all the way to 1600 then buff to shine. Scrathes if not to deep you can fill with Marine tex and then Gel coat.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

For the gouges, get a RO sander with 60 grit and sand out an area 2-3 inches all the way around the gouge feathering it it in to the deepest point. You can get a Fiberglass repair kit from Autozone that will have tha material you will need. You will cut your glass matt patches to fit the area starting at the smallest point and then making them about an inch larger until you get the thickness needed and the area needed to cover the sanded area. Mix the resin and hardener coat the area place the patch, coat with resin watch for runs, wait for it to harden, sand to remove wax from resin, Mix the gel coat to match as best you can, brush it on, 2,3 coats, sand 220 all the way to 1600 then buff to shine.

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

when doing the patches, when i layer them from smaller to larger the larger being on the outside and the filling in the gouge. do i put down each layer then resin over it, then place next layer and resin that. should i do this on a piece of plastic then once they are all resined together place it on the gouge after brushing resin around the fabbed area? or should i just place each layer directly onto the gouge then resin, then the next size bigger patch, then resin that. ensuring to get out air bubbles each step?.

I feel like it would be easier to eliminate bubbles by layering and resining all glass on a piece of plastic first, then attach the completely layered mat to the repair area

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

Plastic and then All at once. You got it!!!!

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

Is it possible just to fill it in with resin paste. Or add silica to the gelcoat and patch it that way? Also how far out beyond the gauge should I sand and taper? 3 inches?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

Those scratches are fairly small to be doing much glass work on, more like maybe one layer and then gel coat, possibly just gel coat putty then gel coat.

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

if i wanted to repaint the whole stripe what would be the best method? roller or spray? i do not have a gravity feed gun, and have heard that the cheaper guns can have bad consistency. but it seems like it would be a pain to do it with a roller? ive never worked with gelcoat before anyone have any recommendations? also i am getting a joystick pro series wake tower powder coated blue, is it possible to get the gelcoat matched to the navy blue powder coat? i mean i suppose i could try to do it myself but i feel like a place that sells gelcoat would have the proper code for adding the pigment to make the right color kinda like the automatic machines at hardware stores like home depot or walmart. or do they mix it by hand as well?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

Hello Rellik..

I did a step by step on this type/kind of repair ( same thing basically )..

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=320724

Preval spray the repair spot..not the whole stripe.

YD.

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

is perval a particular brand of gelcoat, or kind?

in ur photos u used ur mix of Cabosil/resin/fine cut up mat. u built that beyond flush then sanded it down, then sprayed 5 coats of gelcoat and sanded to a finish

is it possible after sanding down that Cabosil/resin/fine cut up mat to use that same mix but with out the glass in it, then sand that down to a finish?

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

well i figured out that the preval is a disposable spray gun.. so i guess with that known, it makes the whole repair pretty simple. my only question is why and how much cabosil do u put into the mix? are you only adding that so u can dilute the resin enough to spray through that preval system?

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

well i figured out that the preval is a disposable spray gun.. so i guess with that known, it makes the whole repair pretty simple. my only question is why and how much cabosil do u put into the mix? are you only adding that so u can dilute the resin enough to spray through that preval system?

Your self made Filler is about 40% Resin-10% gel-50% cabosil ( the reason for adding the gel color to the Fill mix is to help create a base Color ). cut up CSM in that mix for Strength.

The topcoat gel ( sprayed with a Preval ) is not mixed with cabosil !!

YD.

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

YD thank you for ur help

sorry about the noob status. i like to take things apart and put them back together. i just want to make sure i have a thorough understanding of what im doing it. that way i dont have to pay twice as much to have some fix whatever im fixing, plus correct whatever i messed up

do i have to put a thinner in the gel in order to spray it? or can i just spray straight gelcoat obviously matched with blue pigment.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

Noob status means nothing to me here .

Yes your going to have to reduce ( thin ) then gel before spray application..

Depending on how thick your gel is directly proportional to your reduction. you need as little reducer as possible for the spray.

YD.

PS. 88 welcraft.. I think spectrum sells this gel base matched..I will check it out tommorow if I can ( Im spraying a 40 footer in awlgrip tomm. might get light headed hehe ) .

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

that would be sweet if spectrum has that matched. i grew up on an 88 mach 1 outboard with a 250 merc. my dads friend had a wellcraft eclipse not sure what year or exact model. but i really like the wellcraft boats. i picked this one up for 1700 bux.

wished i knew how to spray entire boats, the only light headed ive got lately is bleaching my bow cushions in the bathroom. totally different high hahaha

 

[Rellik546]

Re: Hull gouge above water line fiberglass is showing

turns out spectrum does sell the matched color for my 88. there are 2 different blues that they used that year so i gotta write down my hull number to get the right one... minimum order is 1 gal for factory matched paint.

it looks like ill be respraying the whole stripe