Topic: How I Fixed my gelcoat

I decided to try and fix my own gelcoat gouge, rather than spend the big dollars and have a professional do it. Its prime fishing season here in the South and I didnt want to a lose a single weekend on the water. If it didnt look great, Id have a pro fix this summer when tournaments slow down was my thinking. Considering this was my first time trying to fix and match metal flake gelcoat I think it came out way better than I expected. Heres how I did it:The initial scar on my 1.5 year old kitty About the size of a half dollar. IN a very bad spot on the Eyra, lots of turns in the gelcoat. I ordered the flake from BCB for my color, parts was REAL helpful and even sent a mixing chart for my color: 3oz of both color of flakes per 5 gallons of gelcoat. obviously I wasnt using that much gelcoat and my math skills arent that good so I eye balled it ha. But keep this in mind as we progress. Next I ordered this all inclusive kit from Amazon, believe it was $40The kit came with gelcoat, hardener, 7 basic colors, cups, mixing stick, spreading stick, and film to put over the gelcoat to allow it to cure. Initially I put in the gelcoat and added black and white accent color paint per their instructions to get a "charcoal gray". Looked close. Than added the flake....which couldnt be seen in this mess I made. into the trash with that batch ha. Luckily they give you PLENTY to do a small repair. I started again. This time I filled the little mixing cup (about half way) with the clear gelcoat. In a seperate cup I mixed 1/4 teaspoon of each flake color together (1/2 teaspoon total). Once that flake was evenly blended, I added it to the clear gelcoat and mixed it around. Then added a VERY small amount of base color (for me just plain black), be careful with this step, a little color goes a LOOOONG way. I used maybe 1/8" of paint color (comes out of the tube like a string). It looked pretty good. What I read was to make your mix a tad darker than your boat, as it dries it lightens. Not sure I noticed any of that. Once I matched it as best as I could, I added the hardener...gives you about 10 -15 minutes to work with the mixture before getting tacky. Prior to all this, I did prep the area adn used painters tape around the area to be fixed as I didnt want to get this new gelcoat ontop of good gelcoatWith the hardener added, time to apply and fill it in. I put it on liberally, trying to press it down into the fiberglass. Then used the edge of the spreading stick to try and smooth it out as best as possible. once it was on, I removed the painters tape. it came with a plastic sheet to put on the gelcoat to help it cure. HOwever, it wasnt too plyable and with the repair being on a bend, it made it worse and not as neat. Ended up using wax paper, which fell off after about 5 minutes but was easier to work with. Next time I may not use either. For the first 15 minutes, I heated the area with a blow dryer, my wifes (hence it being pink) ha. I read somehwere this helps reduce tackyness....not sure if its true or not, but seemed to workAllowed it to harden (says 1 hour) but I gave it 2 hours with my boat in the sunlight. From what Ive read, heat/sun is your friend. Must be over 60 degrees outside too for it to work properly. Once it was hardened, it was a multiple step process to smooth out the area and shine it up. I wet sanded lightly with 600 grit paper, then 1000 grit, and finally 1500 grit. Honestly, not sure the 1500 grit really did anything but whatever, wasnt expense and didnt hurt. Once that was done, cleaned the area with a rag, and polished it and waxed it with a buffer. and the finished product. its still a little noticeable if someone is looking for it. Seems I didnt put enough flake in but I was worried about over flaking and perhaps the flake didnt mix evenly enough. But overall, im VERY happy with this. Its shiny, smooth, and barely noticeable to me and I know to look for it. A few things I learned:1. mix flake with clear gelcoat first, then add base color VERY small amounts. Too much and you get mud 2. 3 oz of flake on BCB color sheet is equal to 1/4 teaspoon (or a little more) when doing this repair, per half at that paper cup filled with gelcoat. 3. I wouldnt use wax paper or that plastic sheet. seems to mess things up more than help. For roughly $60 worth of stuff, and about two hours of work, not bad at all. And I still have plenty of material to do it again but hope I never have to Hope this helps others trying to do the same thing. Honestly wasnt that bad to do. Any questions let me know.