Repairing gelcoat spidercracks

79TEMPEST

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
42
Hello everyone I am in the process of restoring my 79 Tempest the Grunt work is all done (earlier this summer) transom, stringers,floor now its time for paint and interior, i absolutly hate the color of the boat, so i am going to paint it this winter but i see lots of spidercracks all over the bottom of the hull, now im pretty sure the fiberglass underneith is not damaged as i had the floor and stringers out and seen NOTHING showing ANY damage on the inside of the hull, so how do i go about repairing all of these spider cracks before paint, i want to make sure they dont come back as im going to spend alot of money on the paint and ALOT of time. so any info or pictures or how to videos or anything on this subject would be GREAT thanks alot you guys are the reason a 19 year old can restore his first boat alone being a mechanic and having never used fiberglass before!. and i hope you all know that the help you provide is more then any one person could ever ask for!:)
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
Re: Repairing gelcoat spidercracks

Pics would really help us to hep you. The answer is going to depend on the extent of the spidering etc..


I'm just sayin...:D
 

79TEMPEST

Seaman Apprentice
Joined
Mar 29, 2010
Messages
42
Re: Repairing gelcoat spidercracks

ok ill get some pics tomorow of the worst of them you can just feel them with your finger nail, about 4 inches long and webbed pattern. some spots i found where it feels like i could pick off a peice of gell with my nail and i see some glass undeneith.
 

Jet Wrench

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
97
Re: Repairing gelcoat spidercracks

You can re-gel coat, or you can epoxy prime coat the hull and shoot polyeurethane paint (less expensive). Interlux makes a good product, it's what I used on my Whaler. I had the same issues.
 

ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
Re: Repairing gelcoat spidercracks

Unless the cracks are sanded out (removed completely) they tend to come back, sometimes it may take a while, other times they come back even before you put the boat in the water.
 
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