Gelcoat scratch repair ?

[Tafflad]

I have a 2012 Monterey, white hull with Red band ...(hopefully pic has loaded) ...
I keep my boat in pristine condition, and find I have 2 small issues in the 'Red accent band' that I'd like to resolve, I think caused by my SkySki.

These are small issues ... only I know they are there, but I would like to fix.
The first is a scuff mark about an 1" long ... this does not show white 'through' so maybe I can polish out ? I have various grades of auto restore polish, which I have used when I attended to a scratch in hull with 'patch repair paste'
The 2nd is a pair of parallel wavy scratches, and small horizontal scuff... the scuff will be dealt with by whatever is advised on above scuff, the 2 wavy lines these are about 1" long ... and not deep, but deep enough that they show as 2 white way lines.
A 'thought' ... for a car, you can get scratch remover creams, you rub on and they hide the scratch ... do these work on gelcoat ? ... I do have some, but don't want to risk making even more white show through.
I do not have any Red patch repair, and you can't get it in UK (cost me $75 shipping to get white patch paste)

Pictures attached (close ups .. scratches are small)

 

[Rickmerrill]

I don't have any experience so all I can give you are my thoughts. I'm not familiar with the auto scratch creams but if they claim magical abilities they are probably using silicone to cover the scratch with a "wet look". That will eventually revert and silicone will contaminate the area and is difficult to remove if further repairs are needed. Buffing, maybe combined with some wet sanding, will work but it's dependent on having enough material to remove and how deep the scratches are. I tend to think of buffing as good for light scratches, swirl marks and removing oxidation. You don't need to worry about color matching but if you go too far... A patch paste would be my preference, just clean and abrade the scratch, build up a layer just above the hull surface. Then wet sand and buff. The problem will be getting a good color match and red tends to fade and bold colors are tough to match so you'll probably have to custom mix and add a small amount of tinting. And since it's a small area you won't be able to blend it in over a larger area which tends to trick the eye. So the color match would be critical. Boatworkstoday.com has some good videos on gelcoat repair and color matching you might find useful. I think, judging by your boat, you are a bit meticulous and you won't be happy with anything less than a near perfect repair. Good luck and please keep us updated.

 

[Tafflad]

As I said in OP .. I have used patch paste to do minor scratches in the white hull.
This is not on sale in UK ... and it cost more that $120 to buy & ship, I don't have any in the Red.

My concern about buffing & wet sanding the 2 scratches that are showing white ... is that its alraedy through teh red ... any buffing or sanding will not bring red colour back ... in fact it would widen the scratch and maybe show more white ??

 

[Rickmerrill]

Can you get gelcoat tints and micro balloons (or similar) and make your own paste? Anyway to buy a red gelcoat that's close and start tinting from there? I think I've read that clear gelcoat is usually used when working with bold colors but it can be done from a white.

 

[Woodonglass]

I am NOT a Gelcoat expert, so I don't know if this would work but it might be worth a try. If you cleaned and area of the hull really well with a degreaser and some acetone to ensure as best you could that all contaminants were removed, you could "Dry Sand" with 220 grit that area of the boat and collect the red dust, that dust would be Poly based material and then you could mix up some poly resin and use the red dust to Color the resin and then mix with cabosil to make your paste to fill the scratch. We're only talking a miniscule amount. It might it might not work, but at the prices you're talking I think I'd give it a try. The worst that could happen is it wouldn't adhere and you'd have to start over. But as I stated in the Beginning I'm NOT a Gelcoat guy so take it for what it's worth.

 

[undone]

I responded to the other post too. there weren't pics in that post, at least not ones that showed up on my computer. And this answer assumes that we are seeing the white gel coat at the deepest point of the scratch.

There is nothing you can do to turn white into red, it will show as white no matter what unless you use an exact matching red to repair it. You may be able to get a close match by going to a local supplier and tinting yourself, but the chances of seeing it are still good. If it will bother you to have a scratch or mismatched repair, then see if you can find sticker you like and place it over it until you can the right stuff..

 

[Rickmerrill]

Sorry, what I poorly tried to convey is that for the scuffs buffing would be the preferred fix if it can be done safely. For the scratches with white showing thru obviously buffing would not work.

 

[kjsAZ]

I just tried a new product for such scratches: magicezy.com "hairline fix" and it works pretty well. Not 100% as good as gel-coat but a lot less work in sanding (none). You may have to mix 2 colors as yours looks in between the ones they offer.