Restoring my fiberglass

[matt481VS]

I've had this boat for two years, and now I finally have a chance to restore the fiberglass. Most of the fiberglass is white and is just a little dull, so I plan to compound it, then maybe polish if needed and finish with BTS.

Now, after inspecting the whole boat closely, I noticed on the side, a small area, maybe a foot or so of the white fiberglass has a lot of little holes (exposed pores, maybe?) See the pic below. What's the deal with this? Most of the boat looks fine. Is there anything relatively simple I can do to restore this area? The rest of the boat doesn't have this issue at all.

Thanks for the advice. -Matt


Don't worry, the nickel is only for scale. It's not actually stuck to my boat...




Modified by matt481VS at 12:53 PM 4/3/2009


Modified by matt481VS at 12:59 PM 4/3/2009

[BASSCAT7]

Pores in th gelcoat are almost microscopic, you cannot see them unless the gel is magnified significantly.
Pinholes like that are generally a manufacturing problem caused by a variety of causes; Mold not being clean in that area, too much moisture in the enviorment...

Has that spot ever been reapired ? On gelcoat repairs these type of pinholes occur for some of the same reasons , moisture in the air lines, gel sprayed on too quickly, etc. When this happens it creates pinhead sized voids that eventually open up after compounding or sanding.

[matt481VS]

I don't think there were any repairs done on it. Maybe it's just a manufacturing defect. Luckily it's only a small area and not in an obvious spot. Is there anything I (as in me) can do to fix it?

[robfad]

Basscat7 is right. This is indicative of water in the airlines when they shot the mold with gel coat. You will never get them to go away without re-gelling the area (repair shop job= $$). It wouldn’t hurt to take the issue to the manufacturer if the boat isn’t too old. A quick home fix would be to clean the area completely trying to get any debris out of the holes themselves as best you can and then spray thin coats of clear polyurethane paint onto the area. Do about 6-7 thin coats with drying and sanding with 1200 grit wet/dry sand paper used wet (water) in between coats. Finish off with a 2000 grit w/d sanding and buff. With this, the area should be much better visually and will protect the underlying fiberglass. Make sure you use a premium grade of urethane paint to avoid yellowing down the road. Not the ultimate fix but it will do the job and be inexpensive.

Rob