looking for gelcoat repair kit

Timotheius

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Does anyone know a website or some other place I can order a grady gelcoat repair kit? I just need a small amount that will match the white gelcoat on my 1994 grady seafarer 228. I am looking to repair some minor chips and scratches and stuff like that. I have tried marine-tex before, but the white color doesn't match very well. Thanks.
 

gw204

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If you're working on a faded part of the hull, you'll get a better color match if you buy straight white gelcoat and tint it with some brown coloring agent.
 

1st grady

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Now you tell me. I just refinished the edges on the two fishbox covers and am not totally pleased with the color match. I used the spectrum gel coat and it is much darker than the faded deck. I am hoping it will fade in a little over the summer.
 

Capt Khaos

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Gelcoat Repair

Well, I live in Ft. Lauderdale and their are lots of boats here so there are lots of marine repair guys. Somebody in your area sells this stuff.

I went to Joe's Auto Marine here and they mixed me a quart (smallest amount they sell) of custom gel coat & hardener (MEKP) for 14 bucks. A few more $$ for the wax (1 oz. per qt.) and a couple more $$ for mixing cups and syringes to drop it in the voids. You'll need masking tape (I use the 1" blue from Home Depot) and some varying grits of wet/dry sandpaper. I start with 220 and ended up with 1200. Then you need to buff and wax.

I started out by pouring the full ounce of wax into the quart of gelcoat and shaking it well. Some tell me that this will kick off the gelcoat within several months but who cares? I'll buy more later. It's easier than trying to add a few drops at a time to the 1 oz. cups I mix up. Then I use the syringe to draw out an ounce of the waxed gelcoat and squeeze it into a small cup. Add 10 drops of MEKP and mix well. Suck it back into the syringe (I do this several times to help mix it) and your ready to go. Add a drop or 2 where you need it and wait 10 minutes or so for it to harden. Once it starts to kick and get thick I suck a small amout of acetone into the syringe and squeeze it in & out to clean the syringe. You can get a couple of uses this way.

I usually don't try to sand it 'til the next day but I'm lazy. You may want to mask the area closely with tape before you sand so you don't scratch the surrounding area.

If your boat is like mine (2002 Seafarer) you've got some different colors here and there. Find a piece you can remove that is sort of an average of all the colors and bring it to the shop. It may not be perfect in all the spots but will look a lot better than black chips.

It's pretty easy and really makes a difference if you have a lot of chips like I did.

Good Luck,
Dan
 

Boats Rock

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I purchased a small kit from my GW dealer. It was for my year and it matched.