Make a fixed hole in the hull look pretty ?

Hi.
So it's a H14T, please forgive me.
Stripped 10+ years and layers of paint from my H14 to find a pretty blue gelcoat.... AND some previous hull repairs... holes fixed.

[b]Question: how do I make it look better? Paint? Gelcoat (keeping in mine the original has faded a bit..)..[/b]

Not sure but its a real eye sore.... please advise. When she had all that paint she was water tight... not sure how it'll be now.

THANK YOU!

Photos are here, in a whole album of the process:
Ding repair: http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?m ... emId=43359

Holes:
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?m ... emId=43383
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?m ... emId=43389
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?m ... emId=43374
http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?m ... emId=43395

Not sure what you can do for that. Looks like they filled it in with bondo and covered with epoxy.....sand the crap out of it and find a paint that matches?

Hey Rob, Looks like pretty small repairs, so it shouldn't be that big of deal. Not talking smack, but it looks like the previous owner used some type of filler (Bondo) and then just put resin (Epoxy?) over top f the repair. That's not the right way to do it obviously. This is how I would do it if it came to my shop:

Step 1. Grind all of that stuff out.
You never know what a previous owner used for the repair. That's one reason why I stress to always use the same material that the hull was made from for the repair. Gel coat will not cure properly over some epoxies. That white putty is probably Marine Tex (epoxy) and has no place on a Hobie other than a quick beach repair. Grind it out. No epoxy paint or bondo will be needed for this repair.

Step 2: Fix the substrate.
This will be the base of the repair, so it's good to do it right. Use a little glass and POLYESTER resin, might need some foam for the core. There are volumes written on this, so I won't get into it here. An outstanding reference is Rick Buchannan's article in the recent Hobie Hotline.

Step 3: Re-gelcoat and fair.
This will be the toughest step, since your hulls are blue it's hard to match the color. Base white polyester Gel with pigment is the way to go. Just eyeball the color and you'll get fairly close. Gelcoat is very forgiving. Slather it on thick, sand it down and buff it. You can trick the eye into believing that you actually matched the color by blending the repair into the existing gel. Basically, you'll fade the new gelcoat onto the existing stuff. Matching 30 year oxidized gelcoat is not easy, so you'll have to settle for 'good enough'. Again, Rick's article is a good reference for basic Gelcoat technique.

Step 4. Buff it and sail!

It's difficult to address every detail of this repair on a forum, but this covers the basic steps so you can research further.

Hope that helps.

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Will look up that Hobie Hotline, guessing it's on this site?

The repairs have held for a few years, but they also had tons of paint on top... so without the paint I'm a little concerne they'll seep in water.

But really was getting stoked to go sailing soon and don't want to be grinding into my hulls at this point in the year!

Don't want to end up submerged at some point later in the year either.

Thanks much for the advice and reference. Sometime I'm sure I'll make a better repair, because those fixes are UGLY! And will then use the notes you made and the reference given.... thanks too for the gelcoat notes.

Cheers,
Rob sends....

Yes, but you won't find a link anywhere. Except here.

www.hobiecat.com/hobieclass