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i filled in all the old screw holes in the boat this wekend. but with all the crazing and cracking where your feet go in the deck........i know it will show through but, would you just paint the nonskid or roll gelcoat? its in great shape except for the crazing. i think i will be able to just spot gel the screw holes and polish. if paint, what color matches? cant gelcoat be rolled on after thinning for the same but harder effect? i do not want to sand down the nonskid. it is perfect except for the crazing and discoloration. thanks.

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Gelcoat is very thick even when thinned. Once you gelcoat whether roll or spray you will fill the nonskid some if not all and have to redo.

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yea i know it will a little but, its already a textured dimple surface and im only looking for a contrast between the polished side and nonskid dimple. at least it will be clean and new even with the spidering. im unsure what to do. i know if i paint it with a two part it will look great but dont bump it. by the way thats a cute kid at the wheel. twenty years ago i bought my first new whaler and did the same thing with my little girl, cant find the picture now. she loved to stand in that boat in the driveway.

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I have 3 boats in the yard and I can't walk past one without having to put him in it.:D

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no one has a thought on this? that must mean its a dumb question on my part. oops.

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kitty,
You might try color matching the gel coat to touch up your screw holes. You'd have to experiment with colorants. "Whaler blue" has quite a range of colors! I've often thought of what it would be like to take an impression of the non-skid for repairs. Maybe after brushing/spraying on a release agent, one could spread some silicone caulk or something on a non-damaged area, and then peel it off. Then you could sand down around the repair/hole, apply colored gelcoat with hardener, and press the silicone patch over it to make the impression and to cover the repair so it will harden properly. What would be really cool would be to somehow make a permanent membrane impression of a "perfect" whaler in order to re-do a badly damaged classic.

Further musings solicited

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Good points Dan. I offer the following two links for further exploration. First is an excellent article by the Gougeon Bros on how to use a flex mold do do non skid repair, second is a place that sells the flex molds (not sure if they have one to match your Whaler, you may need to call). I think there's also another place in TX that has the flex molds, but I don't have the link... Crazing in the non skid area is a tough call. On my boat, the floor is crazed everywhere except the non skid for some reason?

http://www.westsystem.com/ewmag/22/no...nskid.html

https://www.minicraft.com/retail/gibc...comain.htm

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Dan,
that is exactly how you should do it, but I would suggest something with more hardness than caulk. I am looking into making a mold of the non-skid for areas on the 13 that need repair. There is a company; Gilbco Flex Mold that have non-skid molds but they don't have one to match the 13, and I suspect maybe the 15 & 16 footers as well. I have their samples but don't have either a 15 or a 16 to test.

Kitty, your not the first to need this and it's not a dumb question, it's exactly why Glibco Flex molds are around, they just don't have one for the smaller whalers. Actually they only have 3 samples that match any whaler non-skid.

Here is the thread on CW
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/...14099.html

Here is the product I plan to use in the 50 or possibly 60 harness. I believe anything lower than that might not hold it's shape as you squeeze out the gelcoat to form the pattern. This is based on other threads on CW, that I can't find right now.
http://www.smooth-on.com/reoflex.htmeoflex.htm

Explaination on the westsystem site about how to use Gilbco Flex Molds. Same theory applies if you make your own.
http://www.westsystem.com/ewmag/22/no...nskid.html

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Kamie,

When you do the repair, if you document with pic's, it would make an excellent repair article, espcially with your input on pitfalls, etc.

Dave

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That's my plan. I have a lot of work todo before I get to that point but I will take lots of photo's. As with everything, I think prep is the most important step and I have lots of prep work to do.

Minicraft sells Glibco Flex molds. If you call Glibco and as for their samples of whaler nonskid they will send them to you. I would be interested if someone can test the 15 foot, I plan to test the ones I have on the 18 next time I am down at the boat.

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Interesting. Kamie, I'll look forward to hearing your adventures. It occurred to me that if I tried my method with the caulk for small areas (like screw holes), I'd want to lay in some fabric after spreading the caulk. Seems like it would work.

I've never tried color matching with resin. What kinds of colorants did BW use for this?

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The cohasset I got from my Dad has holes filled with caulk & don't think it's the way to go. In fact they have losened & discolored over time & some of them were even done with Black! I plan to clean them all out, countersink them a small bit & spot gelcoat.

Les

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The other way to fill screw holes is with screws and marine-tex. Drill them out, counter sink them, fill with marine tex and then put a slightly larger flat head screw in the hole. The Marine Tex makes it waterproof and on a boat, the screw blends in. It's what I did with the holes for the captains chairs on the 18