Gel Coat Crack Repair

[phild]

Need a little help with trying out how to fix these cracks. I have done a paper test and the cracks are not deep. Is there a filler gel or is this sand and buff time? I've done a lot of fiberglass work on cars but none on a gel coat.

Thanks

[phild]

anybody have any ideas?

[rchavis]

You may go over to The NC board and ask Ted Boyette (crank68).....he does a few boats .....wet sand and buffing .

[phild]

thanks brother

[J Risco]

I dont think sand/buff will take care of that one. Curious to hear if anyone has a good solution for that type of crack. My first thought was grind out and re-gel the clear THEN sand and buff, but that's just a guess

[crank68]

That’s right J....and it’ll prolly come back.

[J Risco]

That’s right J....and it’ll prolly come back.

That's what I thought. I wish there was a resonably cost effective way to fix cracks like that permanently. Wonder how much that would cost at a shop?

[phild]

To do the 2 that I have, I was quoted $2k... I'm sure $1k+ was labor.

[phild]

FYI - they did say it wasn't structural. It is only on one side of the boat about 2' apart. Would be nice if I could heat it, mold it together, spray some clear gel on it and mend it together.

[crank68]

Being it goes through all the colors it’ll be time consuming...I have had a few of these kinds of cracks to look better after a little sanding...and some looked worse.

[phild]

Being it goes through all the colors it’ll be time consuming...I have had a few of these kinds of cracks to look better after a little sanding...and some looked worse.

willing to take that risk to get rid of the nuisance of the cracks

[geobass]

These are much more than a couple of "cracks" in the gel. I think 2 is a bit high. But no matter what you do if you do not fix it right, they will come back and maybe cause more issues.