Fiberglass work for Dummies....

[Cajun Skeeter]

Rollo or others:

I have recently completed a couple of gelcoat repairs on a metalflake bass boat. The center of the repair comes out pretty good but I'm not happy with the edges. I grind the area out and then apply black gelcoat before applying the clear and metalflake (all material applied manually with a brush, not with a spray gun). I appear to be seeing the outline of the black gel coat showing up around the edge of the repair.

Any advice on how to treat the "edge" of the repair area? Do I need to apply black gelcoat all the way to the edge or stop at some distance from the edge?

Also, when I initially grind out the area to be repaired, should I bevel the edges of the area to 45 degrees or 90 degrees, etc..?

[Rollo331]

Whew Cajun you took on the mother doing a flake spray.....sand the repair area out somewhat larger you are trying to blend so it is not so noticable..
A little trick is:
Make your repair take some raw flake in your hand and blow it lightly in the edge area.
You can also hold it in your hand and use a straw to direct it into the area ...sounds like you are getting some shrink and have the area prepped to sharp by that i mean you have it grinded out and are not blending and your black backup is showing...the reason it shows is it is not 100% covering around the edges..This is where the little blow trick is going to whip it...after it looks correct put a coat of clear over it..