Thread subject: Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos :: Gelcote and West six-10 compatibility
Posted by djacksonrn on 05/05/11 - 12:15 PM
#1
Anyone care to chime in? I have a '70 hull that needs some drilled holes filled, some as small as 1/8 in, a couple up to 3/4 in in diameter. Got a tube of West six-10 but want to be sure that when I get to the point that I can take the time to strip the interior out and re-gelcote the entire thing, I'll be able to do so. Thoughts?
Posted by Blackduck on 05/05/11 - 12:29 PM
#2
I would not use this, you MAY have a problem with adhesion. Use thickened polyester resin.
Edited by Blackduck on 05/05/11 - 12:34 PM
Posted by djacksonrn on 05/05/11 - 12:37 PM
#3
The ability to inject the West with the caulk gun type cartridge was a plus, since it could go deep and fill any pocketing that was under the hole. Do you know of any poly resin type product that is delivered in the same manner?
Posted by John Fyke on 05/05/11 - 12:50 PM
#4
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/polyester-over-epoxy/
Posted by zappaddles on 05/05/11 - 5:00 PM
#5
I've not had any difficulty with gelcoat adhesion to West epoxies. You might want to contact their superb technical support.
Zap
Posted by Alan Gracewski on 05/06/11 - 9:09 AM
#6
I have filled hundreds of holes in Whalers with the West System, but only using the liquid 105 resin. I normally use the 206 slow hardener because the foam in the hull insulates the catalyzed resin, and if you are filling a large hole, the resin can exotherm cure so quickly that the resin bubbles out of the hole during the cure, and you have to start over again.
My recommendation is that if you do use the 105/206 combination, you always work "downhand"...that is, turn the boat so the resin flows directly into the hole to fill it completely. Expect air bubbles to come up slowly, and so you have to watch the resin for the time it takes to gel and keep adding mixed resin as the air escapes. An alternative to this is to have two pours, the second to top off/make surface even after the first has cured at a lower level. I normally pop the bubbles to help the hole fill and leave a nice surface which can be sanded level and then painted to match the surrounding gel coat.
I have had some success with horizontal holes by using a masking tape dam, which allows you to pour into the pocket formed by the masking tape on the outside of the surface...then after curing you file/sand off the tab formed by the masking tape dam. But if the inside of the hole goes above the top of the hole's outside surface, you are leaving an air pocket. Even a down angle of 45 degrees is better than horizontal.
Final point, holes smaller than 1/8 inch are tough to fill. They require a paper clip or other wire to constantly probe to get the air out and resin into the depths of the hole. You will quickly learn what works if you try it and you really can't do any damage...just redrill the hole if the repair doesn't work the first time and try again. Good luck and have fun!
Al
Posted by GIjaywhaler on 05/17/11 - 1:16 PM
#7
Alan and John both give good advice. You can also use syringe filled with what ever make up you want to use and inject that into the whole. Whaler purist say that you should only use what made your boat, for the most part I would agree with that. But there are a lot thing that factor in to what person choose to do. From all of the countless hours I have spent scouring the inter-web on the subject of poly resin vs epoxy. It seems that most people choose epoxy do to the secondary bonding abilities it has. Which can be a problem in some peoples eyes. By this I mean a patch job that was done with epoxy will tend not to fail in that spot again but that material will fail just beyond the patch job due to what people claim from the epoxy being to rigid.
Jay