Filling Holes

R

rawidman

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I had a canvas cover for my flybridge but I was putting patches on patches so I made individual ones for the helm and the three seats. Removing thwe old fasteners left me with 42 1/8" holes in the gelcoat and fiberglass.

At some point, I want to make a permanent repair with gelcoat but not now. When I removed the screws, I squirted caulk into the holes but it isn't holding up.

What can I use for a repair that can be gelcoated over at a later time? Something compatible with gelcoat.
 
you can put some screws in the holes so they look intentinal or add a strip of decorative colored automotive striping tape or door molding trim
 
What I would use would actually be gel coat.

I'd chuck a countersinking bit into my cordless drill and put a small bevel on the edges of all those holes. Next I would fill them with gel coat and with a razor blade I'd scrape them very neatly level with the surface. That will seal all of your holes and you can come back whenever you wish to finish the cosmetic phase of the repair. Major bonus that when you do come back to do the cosmetic part of the repair, you won't have created more work for yourself before you get started and can just pick up where you left off as this would in fact be the first step of a cosmetic gel repair. Even though this layer of gel won't be the final cosmetic surface, try to get a color that is pretty close. It won't need to be perfect, but it shouldn't be far far off either. You will find that working with gel coat is actually not as messy as caulk (it behaves better) and if you mix up a nice consistency of gel somewhere around peanut butter, it won't sag and run. If the gel you purchased is not already thick, I like to use fumed silica (colloidal silica/cabosil, different words all the same stuff). The stuff mixes nicely and has a nice neutral white color. Get all your holes prepped and don't over catalyze and it will go quicker than your caulking. Sounds more complicated, and there are a few more details to watch but overall its definitely in the easy category. I really dislike trying to clean up behind caulks/sealants that just end up going everywhere and the gel is just soooo much easier to work with overall in my opinion.

There are precious few scenarios on a boat where caulking something is going to be a good idea and this is not one of them. For the ones you did caulk, your going to have to make sure you remove all traces of the material. Especially so if you used silicone, in which case you want to over drill those holes and aggressively sand the surface off in any of the locations where the silicone was used. You can't scrub it off and must mechanically remove it plus a portion of the gel it is sitting on.
 
i've used this product with real nice results. very hard to tell where it is patched (buff for me), but i have isolated areas. i don't know if it would stand out doing a repetitive pattern.

easy to use liquid/gel type product that holds up vertically.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=50218&subdeptNum=50219&classNum=50224

you'd probably need a couple tubes. if the holes aren't too deep, you can fill them with this.

good luck, ron
 
I did not use silicone caulk because I knew it would be a problem later. I just wanted to keep water out.

For actual gel coat, wouldn't the depth of the holes be a problem? They were #6 screw holes, probably 3/8" -1/2" deep.

The stuff in the tube - my boat is a beige (possibly "almond")color and the gelcoat companies don't stock a match because less than three hundred were made. I paid a gelcoat guy who works my marina to do some other patches and the results weren't that great.

Epoxy would seem to be a good filler but I understand gelcoat won't stick to epoxy.
 
i have an '09 grady and it is really hard to see the patches. you could just fill them with some resin now and do a full gel coat app later. or pick up one tube and try it on one hole. this is not a paste and not a "true" gelcoat as far as i know (which is not a lot). a liquid/gel type product that worked well for me. ron
 
Try using a thickened resin. I know it is expensive, but west system has pumps, additives, and instructions for how to make the right compound for your application. Then simply use a finishing gel coat over top. Try beveling the edges as suggested in a previous post first so you do not have a sharp edge where old meets new. Wet sand the whole area and buff it smooth! Great early season project!
 
You can use thickened resin, but then that's really what gel is anyway, with pigments.. We are not talking structural here, nor are we talking about large volume so I would save myself some time and make it a one step process. It will work fine, depth won't be a problem just be sure to thicken it enough so it stays in place.

The little tube things are convenient but will get expensive quickly. If you buy a quart of gel and a few dollars worth of thickener you will have the material for the cosmetic gel that comes later and what you need to fill the holes. You filler then becomes free because you were going to have to buy that can anyway eventually, cant order less than a quart and would not use it all. The only drawback is that you don't want that can to sit around forever as ANY resin is best consumed while young. If you can buy a gel that already has wax in it. If you buy a can of gel from spectrum or gel coat products inc, you can give your preference on order. This is the best way to buy it as you get a close color match and it gets mixed freshly when you order.

Even when you get a color match can of gel, the cosmetic color match will still be adjusted on sight to account for your boats specific level of oxidation at the sight of repair and will be slightly different on different sun angles over the boat. Get a true pro to do the final cosmetic spray if you can and you won't see the repairs.
 
I would not remove the fasteners. The next owner may want to purchase a new cover.

g
 
quote:
Originally posted by gcolton

I would not remove the fasteners. The next owner may want to purchase a new cover.

Click to expand...

The cover was not only worn out, it was a giant PITA. It was large and heavy, trouble to store when not in use, had about 23 fasteners, and had to be removed just to sit in a seat or get something from under the helm. THese are the replacements:

401391134.jpg


I'm not going to concern myself with the next owner, I'll be gone by then.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

You can use thickened resin, but then that's really what gel is anyway, with pigments.. We are not talking structural here, nor are we talking about large volume so I would save myself some time and make it a one step process. It will work fine, depth won't be a problem just be sure to thicken it enough so it stays in place.

The little tube things are convenient but will get expensive quickly. If you buy a quart of gel and a few dollars worth of thickener you will have the material for the cosmetic gel that comes later and what you need to fill the holes. You filler then becomes free because you were going to have to buy that can anyway eventually, cant order less than a quart and would not use it all. The only drawback is that you don't want that can to sit around forever as ANY resin is best consumed while young. If you can buy a gel that already has wax in it. If you buy a can of gel from spectrum or gel coat products inc, you can give your preference on order. This is the best way to buy it as you get a close color match and it gets mixed freshly when you order.

Even when you get a color match can of gel, the cosmetic color match will still be adjusted on sight to account for your boats specific level of oxidation at the sight of repair and will be slightly different on different sun angles over the boat. Get a true pro to do the final cosmetic spray if you can and you won't see the repairs.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll look into that. Too bad I can't buy a half pint, that would do it, I'm sure.
 
My point is, why go to all of the trouble of removing them? Unless you never intend on selling the boat, they may be a feature the next owner would want. Is it hurting anything having them there?

G
 
If you're not comfortable or familiar working with epoxy resin, you could go with Marine-Tex epoxy putty. It's essentially a pre-thickened epoxy resin. It has the consistency of Play-Doh and sets up hard as nails.
 
I would not use Marine Tex on a gelcoat surface. M/T sets up way to hard and when time comes to dress it up (sand it down) you end up sanding away the gelcoat because the M/T is so darn hard. You need not ask me how I know this....
 
quote:
Originally posted by gcolton

My point is, why go to all of the trouble of removing them? Unless you never intend on selling the boat, they may be a feature the next owner would want. Is it hurting anything having them there?
Click to expand...


Well, that ship has already sailed.

They were a little corroded, they looked ugly, and they were obstructions to wash and wax around.

This is not a Bayliner or Sea Ray, it's one of approximately 250 boats of this model. Covers are not available, anything would be custom work anyway.

What I'm trying to say is, I already thought about it and decided that for me, removing them was best.
 
I had to do the same thing two years ago. Had over 50 holes to fill, many of them had been filled with silicone over the years. Drilled them all over size. Then used a chamfer to bevel the edges.Used 3M vinylester to fill the holes. Do NOT use the hardener that comes with the product. It turns it a blue/green that telegraphs through the final gel coat. Use standard hardener. Then I used a ball type rasp in the drill to slightly depress the holes so I could fill with the finish gel coat. Then wet sanded everything with 800, 1200, then 1500 grit paper. I sanded each whole panel to the next natural break in the bridge structure. If you look CAREFULLY from all angles you can tell by the slight color shift where the holes were. Oh yeah, I used gel with the wax already added to it.
Al
 
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