Gel Coat Repair Method

This is my gel coat repair project video that resulted from some conversation over in the Hobie 16 forum. I decided it might be useful to post it in the repair section. Maybe this will be helpful to some others:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwrjmyBR7c8[/youtube]

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Anderson, SC
1987 Hobie 16
Learning to sail.

If I didn't know any better i would have thought that was a surf city cat video. Nice work looks like it turned out perfect.

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'73 hobie 16 restored 2011
'00 Seaswirl fishin boat

Yeah! Very nice video. It will help a lot of people...

Ed

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'76 Hobie 16

Make sure you buy "finish gel coat" if you are going to try this method. It contain wax additives. If you buy regular gel coat, you will likely get a tacky surface that will not sand well. I used a lot of the advice offered by Jeremy from Surf City . If I were doing an area much larger, I would have to use a different mixture & a sprayer.

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Anderson, SC
1987 Hobie 16
Learning to sail.

Thanks for posting the video, looking for ideas myself on how to fix a 4 inch crack I have on the bottom of a hull.

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'95 H16 sail #101148
'89 H18 SX/ sail #1053 w/ Yellow hulls

Or you can just buy "surfacing agent" (basically liquid wax) and add it to the gelcoat when you mix the hardener in your final coat. "Finish gelcoat" is just regular gelcoat with the surfacing agent already mixed in. The downside to using finish gelcoat is that you must sand it between each application.

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Or you can spray the freshly applied gelcoat with PVA which will form an airtight seal over the gelcoat so it can harden properly.
The advantage of using PVA and an unwaxed gelcoat is that you can spray multiple coats of gelcoat. With waxed gelcoat, you need to let it cure then sand it before you can add an additional coat. By using PVA, you can spray a coat of gelcoat, then mix and apply another coat within an hour or so. Then spray PVA over the repair and it will all harden nicely.
I just finished a bottom job on my cat after landing on an oyster bed. It turned out perfectly.

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Eric Weller
2006 F18 Capricorn
1980 H16
Keep the pointy side up!

Great video, thanks for posting! What grit sand paper did you use for the different sanding stages? What kind of epoxy did you use?

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1979 Hobie 16

great resource, I guess the can of Bud is applied liberally throughout the entire process?

Did you thicken the gelcoat with silica or ? how much hardener did you shoot for?

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave