Gelcoat damage on hull - best repair method?

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jrannestad

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I have a 2004 parker 2320. Its on a mooring during the boating season in New England. When I pulled the boat in the fall the bottom was severely gouged up. Not sure how it happened. Maybe something floating down river with some metal on it got hung up on the boat. Maybe it was the stem of the mooring at low tide. Whatever. The gouges to the gelcoat are all over the place plus there are one area where the gelciat has been pretty well scratched off that is 1' x 3' in size. I have a couple shops looking into repair. They both wanted to strip all the bottom paint, fill and fair with some sort of epoxy putty then barrier coat the bottom up to the waterline and then put on a new coat of bottom paint. I asked them why they don't put gelcoat back on and they seem to say that its not needed since barrier coat is now required in any case and the gelcoat, if replaced, would have to be sanded anyway to be able to bond to barrier coat. Its also less expensive to fill and fair with epoxy putty rather than with gelcoat in all the numerous areas that need filling. Looking for advice as to best way to repair.
 

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Need advice.
Wow, sorry to see this damage to your boat. My guess is the stem of the mooring, or something else that scraped and beat the bottom for a long period; not just a passing object.... I agree with the shops; strip, fill and fair. Imho, since barrier coats (three-six?) will be applied, I understand why they don't see a need for gel-coat. There are boat builders who don't use gel-coat at all. Hatteras Yachts is one of them, and they build high-quality boats...
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might need to sandblast the bottom sand medium maybe 60 to 80 grit depending on your ability with a sander once cleaned up you can get a good visual west system has a good epoxy product as does marine tex. They make a fiberglass bondo type product for Marine use some has fiberglass hairs some just a coarser putty like material. Barrier coat if theres more than 20% exposed and damaged glass. Need warm conditions either indoors with heat or wait till summer. If theres delaminating some glass maybe required
Consider an overlay of keel guard after repairs
 
I would agree with your local opinions. No need to gel coat. Need to strip -at least damaged areas- sand, epoxy type filler patch, fair, barrier coat and repaint. Not an impossible DIY project if estimates are out of budget.
 
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