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Take some good 3m blue masking tape and cover the holes and surrounding area enough to be able to block sand on the tape. Then take a small countersink or chamfer drill bit and open op the screw hole ever so slightly. This will leave a perfect hole in your masking tape. fill holes with marine tex epoxy putty just to slightly higher than the tape. After it sets up use a block sander with some 220 grit wet sandpaper and using water, wet sand down to where you start rubbing thru the tape. This will allow you to sand only the marine tex not the surrounding gel coat. Once you are just thru the tape, use 600 grit and then 800 grit wet sanding and then finally finish with a little buffing and waxing. The result will be a rock hard structural and watertight repair. The color match is not perfect as the marine tex is a little more white than the original gel coat, but the screw holes are so small it will look pretty good. If you really want it perfect you can either now tint the marine tex with gel coat tint which can be had in small kits at west marine, or only fill the holes partially full and then have a local gel coat professional color match some gel coat putty to finish the holes and just use the same tape and wet sanding process to sand the putty level and then buff and wax.
Stephen: I recommend against using a white colored epoxy putty to fill the screw holes. I have two reasons: First, this is a cosmetic repair, so you want it to look good. That means you want to use a finish product like the existing surface, which is desert tan gelcoat. Use only a poly filler and gelcoat that matches your existing interior color. Second, when you use an epoxy putter to fill a hole, the epoxy is hard and the surrounding gelcoat will fracture - like a sunshine pattern of rays - after a few New England seasons - even with countersinking of the hole before patching. Several years later, you will have an even bigger gelcoat surface area to repair. The temperature must be above 60 degrees to accomplish this repair, to allow for gelcoat cure.
i agree with Weatherly. Do not use Marine-Tex for a cosmetic repair like this since it is epoxy, and you cannot gelcoat over it - will not bond. Left alone, it will turn yellow with UV exposure.. You want to use a polyester resin (which is what the hull is made from) paste filler product for a repair such as this, such as white Evercoat Formula 27 filler. 3M also makes similar polyester/vinylester resin fillers. Then sand flush, and grind out a slight recess to receive the gelcoat overcoat. You can even just fill the holes with gelcoat alone, since they are small.
The idea to countersink out the rough hole surface a little is good, since it gives a beveled surface for better adhesion of the resin.
if you are going to have the interior gelcoat wet sanded, have them start with #1000, then use #1500, then #2000, done by hand, not machine Follow this up with 3M fiberglass rubbing compound, followed by Finesse-it II, both buffed by machine with wool bonnet.. The gelcoat will look like a new boat, with amazing depth of shine.
There is one place where i recommend Marine-Tex, and that is for stripped out holes with wood backing beneath, where structural fasteners are needed, such as rails, consoles, seats, light fittings, etc. Here you drill out the hole TWICE the diameter of the screw outer threads. This makes a plug of epoxy through both glass skin and the plywood, which, when sanded flush and re-drilled, will be RE-COVERED by the fitting. New gelcoat is not needed here since it will not show. The epoxy will hold the screw like iron, which at the same time is completely imbedded in the plug so no water can get in and cause future damage to the plywood backing. I made this repair (at a Whaler dealer's recommendation,) to all 30 of the #14 screws on my Outrage 25 bow rail, and 20 years later they are still solid with not one working loose again.
Since "on topic" how do you repair a snap hole on the hull if you are going to reinstall the snap in the same place? I was thinking Marine Tex but spider cracking now has me worried.
Garris - I would simply fill it with the Evercoat Formula 27, sand flush, re-buff, etc and re-drill. the snap will cover the fill completely. The Evercoat is a very tough product.
Incidentally, Evercoat is made by the maker of Marine-Tex, Illinois Tool Works. It is simply their polyester resin paste filler product.
All great advice. I don’t intend on reinstalling the snaps so I am looking for a cosmetic repair. I’ve had the boat since new and want it mint this season. I think I will consult my body shop bud who does a lot of glass work and see if he’s willing to do it. Or at least the gel coat part since I know he has some from a previous repair he made for me in the stern.
The wet sanding scares me. I wish I could find a shop I trusted to do the work. I worry that glass gurus are few and far between now. Everyone with a buffer is a detailer now. Any suggestions on the south shore in Boston will be appreciated.
