Gelcoat... spray or patch

[Wzbell]

I ran over a can of paint stripper 2 years ago when parking the boat for the winter and yes it blistered the side of the gelcoat down to the wood on one side 6"x15". I attmepted to repair it but didn't match the new gelcoat well with the old and it looks like @#$@!. I see now you can get matching gelcoat from places like spectrum color and the color is so light any fading from my 20 year old boat won't be seen that well. My question is should I get the new gelcoat in an aeresol can and spray over the entire 6X15" area or should I try to grind out each little cavity and patch? I worried if I grind I'll thin the gelcoat around the area too thin once I sand the repairs flush.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Gelcoat... spray or patch

That's a tough one, hard to tell without seing the area. But I can tell you your worries are not unfounded. Gelcoat is solid for some thickness on the surface, but then it can have small pinhole pockets in it. If you sand it down to this level, the tiny pinholes fill up with dirt, wax, whatever and always show. If it's already repaired and you're basically looking for cosmetics, I would lean towards spraying it. I don't know about the premix can, I've only mixed and sprayed my own. Get some PVA, though if you spray...