Gel coat repair??????????

[captronr]

Hi,

My blue gel coat is pretty beat up in spots, so I ordered a pint of it from ComPac.  It came this week, but seems to have the consistency of thin paint as I shake the can.  Also, there wasn't any hardener with it.

I've emailed Gerry to see if he can provide guidance.   All the gel coat I've used in the past is paste like requiring a hardener.   So this is totally new to me. 

Based on what I see, best I could do is open the can and paint or spray paint it on. 

Any ideas?

Thanks.
Ron

[captronr]

Sorta answering my own question. ....

Gerry emailed back quickly.  Answer is MEK.  Said the gel coat in the can when fresh is very liquid...........

Will search for online directions for mix ratio.

Thanks.
Ron

[Craig Weis]

I could be wrong on this BUT...

MEK or Methyl Ethyl Ketone is one heck of a 'fast' solvent ...dries about as fast as one can wipe it on with a rag.

Forty years ago our drafting boards were cleaned with that stuff ... to remove the graphite. Remember graphite? That's when draftsmen pushed a pencil and were involved in producing a clear and concise picture in detail ... taking note of every line that interned feared with ever other line ... not this 'button pushing stuff' with it's half way accurate drawings come off of Cad now a days.  **

Than we'd go outside for a wee bit of fresh air ... anyway,

Now to pour some MEK into the gel coat coloring and she'll become soupier? Might change the shade of color or kill the gloss too.
Exactly what you bought, is not clearly understood. Betting it is just a paint.

If what came from Com Pac is just a 'paint' to color the repair, than the repair needs to be done first.

West System two part and a rubber wiper to fill in the low spots ... BUT that filled in surface ought to be sanded with 400 grit sand paper first than wiped clean with MEK.
Sanded and feathered into the good area, then shot with the color that was purchased.

There are ZERO short cuts when it comes to 'body work'. The paint job is never better than what is underneath it.

** I watched a ship fitter lay on his back for two days on engine covers with two foot of clearance between him and the ships overhead and cope out [read saw out] the horizontal stringers of the hull's structure using a Milwaukee Saw-Z-All and dulling who knows how many blades to make clearances for the deck scupper pipes.

You see, the shop fabricated scuppers that were Cadded up on separate drawings. The hull drawing showing the stringers ... well, never were the two drawings ever mated on the 'scope'. ... on deck the scuppers were already fitted but below deck the scupper's pipes were plotted clean through these stringers and that required copious amounts of time and money to make each scupper work.  Than of course each round scupper pipe had to be full welded into the cope on the stringer, making it a 'forever' piece of the horizontal stringer in the hull.

A waste to be sure. skip.

[Duckie]

I would recommend doing some research about gelcoat repairs.  I just did a handful of them yesterday with a kit that I got at my local marine general store.  It came in a can and a small tube.  The product in the can is about the consistency of thick rustoleum paint.  I bet yours needs to be stirred.  Any time I use similar products such as body putty, the resin needs to be stirred.  I had to stir for quite a while to get an even thickness of my resin.  If there are any instructions on the container, read them.  Some gelcoat repair kits require that the repair be covered with wax paper or some such in order for it to cook off.  If it does not, it probably has wax in the resin which somehow allows the gelcoat to cook in the open air.  My particular gelcoat had a working life of around 15 to 20 minutes.  Duriing that time it would gradually get thicker so that I could add more to the spot and it would eventually hold tight and not sag. 

MY kit apparently has wax in it because it did set up in the open air.  When I applied it to vertical surfaces I just dabbed it on but not too much so that it would sag.  I then hung around until the goo started to cook off and as it thickened, I added more to the repair until it would support itself and stand pretty proud of the surrounding surface.  The goo would shrink as it set up and if it wasn't mounded up enough, I would have to add more later.  I left it set over night and filed it down the next morning.  I used a fine toothed file for the heavy lifting.  I was able to get the mound down to almost level with the surrounding area without taking anything out of that area.  Then I carefully sanded the repair down with dry paper until it was really close, then wet or dry until it was fair.  I finished with 2000 grit wet or dry which gave me a highly polished finish.  The only way to tell that there is a repair is that the repair gelcoat doesn't match the color of the original gelcoat.  I can live with that.

This is the first time I have monkeyed around with fixing gelcoat.  It wasn't that tough.  I am pretty experienced with auto body putty, so I was pretty confident. 

Take a shot.

Al