Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

[BeerRanger]

Hello friends. Washing my boat this morning I discovered two scratches through the gelcoat along the keel of my '99 Four Winns Horizon 200. The gouges are through to the glass as you can see in the photo. The left one is appx 1.25" and right about 2". I took this pic to one local fiberglass repair shop and was quoted appx $400. For damage this size would you guys reccomend this avenue or a DIY repair.



Also should damage like this keep me off the water for the few weeks until this guy can fit me in his shop?

Thanks!

 

[Psiclown]

Re: Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

Looks like Marine Tex could fix that no problem. $30 compared to $400 and you'd be done in a couple hours.

 

[BWT]

Re: Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

$400 sounds a little steep in my opinion, But I do not know where you live. If it's below the waterline this is a simple repair *** providing the fiberglass is not cracked or damaged. If it is then that's a different matter.

Assuming it isn't damaged, you'll need to scuff the area with 80 grit sandpaper and wipe it down with acetone. Next, I would seal the exposed glass with some polyester resin and let it set up. Repeat the process of sanding with 80 grit and wipe down with acetone and use a thickened gelcoat (or a product that I use quite a bit is called AdTech. Its essentially a paste gelcoat; polyester based that mixes with a paste hardener and sets up in about 10 minutes.). The adtech comes in a white (probably not a white that matches your gelcoat on the boat) but it's kinda-sorta close. Underwater I doubt the fish care all that much . At this point the area could be left alone and called good (it's essentially been gelcoated, the color will just be a little off). If you wanted to completly make the chips go away then have some gelcoat colormatched and go over top of this filler. Wetsand flush, and buff it out. Hope this helps! If you do it yourself with the above products, probably $40 - $50 or so and about half an hour of time (color matched gelcoat would of course be more)... Hope this helps!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

First off, Welcome to iBoats!

Second, I tend to agree with BWT. OR Heck just Clean em out real good with acetone, mix up some GelCoat paste fill em, sand em and hit the water.

 

[BeerRanger]

Re: Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

Thanks guys for the info! I think I'm going to look in to doing this myself. Like you said, the fish aren't going to care about the exact color match, and I may investigate a keel guard anyway, which would eventually cover it up.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Gelcoat damage along keel Advice.

500 bucks ill fix it.. nobody will ever tell it was there ...

but..thanks for coming to the forum..

YD.