Gelcote Repair Chips, Gouges, scratches - Speedster

[Windig89]

Hi All, I am in the final stages of brining a 2000 Speedster 240 EFI back to seaworthy condition, its been out of water for almost 3 years before I purchased her, it was abused a little and not maintained like I would have, but I got it for so cheap I'm happy to invest in it. All the mechanical issues have been addressed (except oil bypass, will do that next winter). The last step before launching is some Gelcote repairs that need to be addressed. I have done all the research and purchased all my supplies to complete the job using Gelcote paste. Once I got under the boat, a close up inspection of the Keel damage revealed that I might need more than a coat of Gelcote to complete the job properly. The keel looks like it was bumped a little harder than I initially thought, it looks like some of the glass has been touched.

Should I grind the loose material out with my dremel, sand with 80 grit and do a Marine-tex fix, call it a day? Or does it need some glass and then Gelcote paste to finish it off? Maybe im GTG with what I have, and should just clean up the damage and lay on the paste as originally planned? There are no holes or deep chunks missing, maybe just a layer of glass lifted.

Let me know what you think on how to proceed with this repair. I tried to get allot of different angles in the pictures as shading can drastically make the damage look worse.

Thanks
Jason

 

[shep]

I would just repair the gel coat. You could throw a bit of resin on top, to be safe, ( I would ) and after drying gel coat. I did a similar minor repair, and it worked great. Use the dremel to clean it all out, and then do multiple minor coats, sand, buff and good to go!

 

[Windig89]

Things are progressing quite well. I cleaned out all the loose debris and beveled the edges of the wounds 45deg. My demel with cable extension and the cone shaped grey grinding stone made the job super quick and easy. It blew through all the loose eggshell type damage with ease. I finished cleaning up all the spots with 220grit and the surrounding gelcote. Wiped everything clean with acetone, then taped them all off with 3m painters tape leaving 1/8th all the way around. I set up the first layer of paste 2 nights ago and now sanding with 100grit aluminum oxide. Acetone again followed by a second layer of gelcote to fill in any remaining voids.

This time I am using saran wrap as the mylar film to smooth/ cure the gelcote. I highly advise using saran wrap, It makes the manipulating the gelcote so easy and smooth it's going to be minimal sanding this time. I used cut up zip lock bags the first time and it left a tons of creases and created a huge sanding job.

So far I'm pleased with the job and how easy it is (simple tools and skill wise) the elbow grease is another story. I'm satisfied to have saved hundreds of dollars. Will post pics when I'm done.