Matching Gelcoat - Gelcoat Repair

[Tower Todd]

I found this How-To on the net and feel like I would like to try fixing a few little dings that have appeared over the season. I've always had a guy come out and fix the little dings in the past and he did a great job and you couldn't tell where the repairs were when he left. My boat is an Albemarle and the color is an off white color. If you know Albemarles you know what I'm talking about. I want to learn to do these little fixes, but don't want to end up making it worse. What is the right way to match the color?

Here is the How-To I found:

http://www.csfrancis.net/BMW/GelcoatRepair.pdf

Thanks,

TT

[25Contender]

I found this How-To on the net and feel like I would like to try fixing a few little dings that have appeared over the season. I've always had a guy come out and fix the little dings in the past and he did a great job and you couldn't tell where the repairs were when he left. My boat is an Albemarle and the color is an off white color. If you know Albemarles you know what I'm talking about. I want to learn to do these little fixes, but don't want to end up making it worse. What is the right way to match the color?

Here is the How-To I found:

http://www.csfrancis.net/BMW/GelcoatRepair.pdf

Thanks,

TT

Call MiniCraft in Miami they should have a match. Get the paste gel coat with activator . I have done this for my past two boats it is easy to do the small dings and nicks...Mark

http://www.minicraft.com/

[txhedg]

I bought the color matched gel coat for my boat from my local pursuit dealer. They had it on-hand, and saved me having to try and color match the "pursuit off-white". You may want to give your local albemarle dealer a call and see if they have similar. Worth a shot, anyway.

I used the same DIY directions as the OP linked to, and it worked out great for a first time try.

[Fishinspot]

good how to info!

[bly]

Even using factory supplied gel coat still almost never matches? Its the sun and weathering that screws up the match. I have had to a very small ammount of brown pigment to compensate for weathering most times. Then unless you want to polish the complete boat to the patch? Becarefull on how good you buff the repair?

[txhedg]

Even using factory supplied gel coat still almost never matches? Its the sun and weathering that screws up the match. I have had to a very small ammount of brown pigment to compensate for weathering most times. Then unless you want to polish the complete boat to the patch? Becarefull on how good you buff the repair?

My repair wasnt perfect (due to some level of operator error), but the color was almost spot on, pretty good for an 8 yr old boat, imho. I waxed and then hand-buffed the surrounding area, and the color wasnt a big problem at all.