gel coat question

[Pboettger]

I'm thinking of trying to repair some small holes in my console, and several on the outside of the hull where I took off the swim platform. I initially filled and covered all these holes with white Marine Tex (great stuff, but hard to work with and impossible to color match), but it doesn't look good. I'll have to sand them down and recover with gel coat. Does anyone sell the same gel coat that Parker uses? Can one get it from the factory? I'm going to have the bottom professionally repainted for wet slip use. Would it be worth it just to have those guys do the holes too?

 

[ryanc2]

DIY is relatively easy and you can get the gelcoat from your dealer. 3rd party will probably charge you somewhere in the $150 range.

 

[Pboettger]

I'm assuming you mean "Parker" dealer? BTW, do you still have the back rest for the old style leaning post? I'm going back and forth between replacing with new style and and adding a back rest to the old one. They both have advantages.

Peter

 

[DaleH]

Ugghhh ... I hope you have better luck covering marine-tex with gelcoat than I have. I will NEVER, ever use Marine-tex again on any frp surface.

 

[ryanc2]

I did it on an old transom mount 'ducer. Drilled out the marine tex to a little bigger of a hole and started the gel coat. Can't really tell the difference.

pboettger - Holding off on the backrest as of now in hopes of selling as a package deal with my current leaning post. I'll let you know if things change though - should know something in the next several days.

 

[ppem45]

I had a boat sink because of Marine Tex someone put in a ladder hole below the water lane and a bilge pump that decided it was retirement time. I was lucky that it had good insurance but I would not use marine tex as it will shrink on you. Just my 2 cents!

 

[andertonm]

Concur about Marinetex. It's over-rated. I like chopped glass and resin to fill larger holes. Sand below surface then do surface work with dealer-provided matching gelcoat.