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Looking for some help on what I should buy. I recently boat a new boat. Lil dings, screw holes, keel scrapes, bow hook hole chipping, ect....

What fiberglass / bondo / repair substances do you guys use and why. Im sure each project calls for different things but for the sake of this post, lets assume nothing is big or worn it to the foam. It is all cosmetic in nature. I like the analogy of the iceing is scraped off the cake when refering to my problems. Nothing is to the foam. just the gelcoat scraped of and wearing into fiberglass....

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Thought I would take some pictures of the things on my boat I need to repair. Interested in any of your suggesting.

Thanks in advance!


Sorry, cant post a jpg file for some reason

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I purchased Marine Tex this eveing. Hope that does the trick

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According to the packaging, you will not be able to gelcoat over the MarineTex. Try polyester resin, add filler until you get the consistency you like.

Tim

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Use Evercoat Formula 27 for your dings. It is poly based so you can gelcoat over it, you can also use the tints that are available to try to match the color of your gelcoat. Usually a little (VERY VERY VERY LITTLE) brown yellow and black mixed with the already fairly white colored formula will do pretty well. Working time is good, its easy to use and sands easily. Skip the Marine Tex. It is a pain to use and sand, and you'll never get your poly based gelcoat to stick to it.

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wow I was just getting ready to order some Marine-tex for filling all my screw holes and setting new ones for my rails...I want to be able to gel coat over the filled-enlarged holes.

other strong-screwable filler options then Marine tex?

john

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See above. Evercoat has many products, I think they are mainly automotive inspired but 27 is a marine filler. It will get hard as a rock, still sand easy and its strong. Plus you can tint it or gel over it. If you intend to gel over it, make sure you leave your repair area slightly lower than the rest because the gelcoat will go on with some thickness, and you will still want room to fair it out a bit.

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Thanks alot. Will be trying the "Evercoat Formula 27" first. Will keep you posted how it goes.

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When and bought the Formula 27 today ($$$$$$$$$)

What do you guys use to sand down the imperfections you made when you were trying to form it up?

1. Grit
2. Electric or hand sander
3. Whats a low cost / good model sander to use

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I just used a piece of sandpaper and a block. If is really funky and chunky use 100 or 150. You would not want to take the finish sand down past 3 or 400. If you are applying gel coat over it, you want to keep a little bite. It should knock down pretty easy.

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Tape off the surrounding area of good gelcoat so that you do not ruin the finish. Sand down the repaired area so that it is slight lower than the surrounding area. Use a sanding block for flat surfaces so that you get a uniform surface.

Once the repair is ready for gelcoat, lightly feather the edges of the repair with 400 grit so that you have a good overlap for the gelcoat to adhere to the repaired area and the good area.

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Excellent post westcoast. Those are key points.

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You guys are the best. Thanks for the suggestions. I am mainly plugging holes from previously installed things. I do have 2 tough jobs though. My bow eye area is in bad shape and also my boats keel is scratched up quite a bit. I do not care much for color matching. Im not going to gelcoat but I will one September day when I paint the entire boat. For now I just want to fix the holes and scratches. Started today..

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I have been working on a 1990 13' Super Sport with quite a bit of hull damage on the bottom.

I have been using Marine Tex to patch and fill the holes.

My plan is to fiberglass some additional layers over the high spots on the bottom of the boat because I plan on beaching the boat with my kids.

Can I bottom paint over Marine Tex and or over the additional fiberglass patching?

What do I do to the areas that I am planning to gel coat over that I have already used Marine Tex on?

Should I sand them down and use another product that will allow me to gel coat?

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You should be okay to gel over the Marine Tex. It may not be optimal, and you might have to keep an eye on it, but it should be fine. Most marine paints you find are epoxy products, so no problem with paint.