Intruder Gel Coat repair

[Eodman]

Well my son & I are about to start work on his Intruder that we got from Jesse - have a question!

The deck has a 2 inch crack in the Gel coat - just the gel coat what is the best way to fix it? We have someone that will Airbrush it(Budwiser Select Theme) red & balck with the gold crown but I would like to repair it first!

Any suggestions?????

[screwball]

go to your local marine store, and get a gelcoat repair kit then follow the instructions, at lerast thats what i would do but iv never worked on rc boats with gelcoat just real boats...

[marko500]

Yeah I agree with Screwball. Any marine store should sell it. I bought some for my full size boat a year or two ago and it came in a small tube. I think I got it from West Marine.
Mark

[Mono~Junkie]

From my marina gel-coat/ fiberglass days, I'd lke to throw in my two cents?

Grind that crack out with a dremel bit, just to remove the loosening gelcoat and just to scuff up the layup under the gelcoat,

sand the area around the crack with 320 grit to remove all the shine and wax.

if you use that tube gel fix, it will work; lay it in a bit higher then then surface of the hull , it will shrink a bit.

you can speed the dry time with a heat gun ( time was money in the marina )

most of the time they will come with ( sanding wax ) in the gelcoat, once it's dry it will be a bit tacky to the touch, wipe it once or twice with a rag of laquer thinner to get the tacky sanding wax off of the patch.

sand just abotu smooth with 320, wet it with 400 ( 600 ) and buffer out!

Oh I miss those days, just not the weight of my lungs back then.....


( if your only going to paint the hull after the repair ? , forget wasting your time on gelcoat and just use the above process with some epoxy. Gelcoat on Rc is as thin as bayliner seems to be getting away with these days, it is a good , quick fix'r.

"epoxy will stick to fiberglass, but glass on epoxy is an pain in the AS$" Old head glassers motto hahah

[bonewar]

Eodman,

If your going to paint the hull forget the gel coat.

If the hull is an H&M original , Then i would sand out the cracked part , trying not to go throw the glass( 5mm past the crack on both sides) an add some epoxy resin .
Let it set and sand it smooth , Then paint over it. You will never know it was there.
The epoxy will be stronger then the gel coat.

Good luck mate.

Bonewar