Original finish repairs - Fiberglass RV
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Old 05-09-2012, 06:52 AM   #1
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Original finish repairs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
Terry, the outermost layer of most of our eggs (as built by the factory) is that gelcoat, because there is no paint. A coloured (often white, sort of beige in my case) layer of resin, sprayed in the mould before the resin-impregnated glass fibre, is the only external finish.


Again thanks Brian for your valued input.


Want to repair some scratches in the original finish top center front; not paint the trailer as I like the original look.


Have used interlux marine top side paint to fix a canoe in past ‘Fighting Lady Yellow YHS056’ looks closest; original colour is a bit darker but area to be repaired is a faded a soft yellow; under tire at back shows original colour best. Some fading is giving at a more beige shade but still yellow.

Will buff and clean first to get a better idea of exact colour hope to start cleaning it later today or even tomorrow next week at latest

Did purchase a boat repair book for night time reading as felt it was a good start.

Can anyone lead me to a repair link? or offer some ideas?
just do not want too make a mess
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Old 05-09-2012, 07:18 AM   #2
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West Marine has gel coat repair stuff. I've used it for small scratches on a boat. But you can use it for much larger areas. And you can color match.

That is a much better solution for patching for your gel coat than painting those areas. It can match texture as well as color.

Maybe someone here can give you a more complete explanation.
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Old 05-09-2012, 08:37 AM   #3
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Thanks Mouse, looked into West Marine on internet they have a location in Barrie; next time I head that way will check it out. Will just clean and polish the trailer for now. The area to fix is on top front curve, tree damage or other obstacle and poor prior repair job. General finish is fine on the rest of the trailer.
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Old 05-09-2012, 08:16 PM   #4
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Mouse: Sent a email about 3 product they have with intrest on what would work best, have you used one of these?
>EVERCOAT Match'N'Patch Large Gelcoat Repair Kit Model mfg. # 100668
>Evercoat Mix ‘N’ Match Gelcoat Repair kit mfg. #108000
>Mas Epoxies Gelcoat Repair kit Multicolor mfg. part 95-743PS
Hope to hear back soon from them
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Old 05-09-2012, 09:21 PM   #5
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As it was explained to me (no personal experience) gelcoat unlike paint does not really self level. To get smooth requires sanding with super fine sand paper. Possibly wet/dry sanding. But then so does blending a paint touch up unless you paint entire panel (fender, door etc.).


Here is a link to marine repair guide that has some instructions on gelcoat repair. http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/HowTo-Publications/Fiberglass-Boat-Repair-and-Maintenance.pdf
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Old 05-15-2012, 09:46 AM   #6
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Wondering if I post some pics if someone can tell me on my rv if the scratches can be buffed out or if i need to resort to a repair process?
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Old 05-15-2012, 11:14 AM   #7
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You can't buff out scratches to gel coat, it isn't thick enough.
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Old 05-15-2012, 08:56 PM   #8
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thanks for the response..i did have a guy here tonight who looked at it and said the same thing. looks like they came from tree branches. he pointed out that i don't have much of a top coat left as you can see faintly the texture of the mesh. does anyone know if the west marine scratch repair might help these before i topcoat the rig? I don't want to paint it at least not now..
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Old 11-04-2012, 11:40 AM   #9
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gigi m feel the same decided on slow spot by spot gelcoat repair. For me at least feel it is worth the trouble.
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Old 11-04-2012, 01:18 PM   #10
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gigi m feel the same decided on slow spot by spot gelcoat repair. For me at least feel it is worth the trouble.
I don't want to write a book on gelcoat repair but since this topic has come up many times I'll just make two brief comments.

One: go to a shop the sells FG products where the staff will give you good info and sell you what you need. Marine stores are great but the staff might never have done a gelcoat repair.

Two: The heart of a good and easiest to do gelcoat repair is covering it with vinyl, poly or best of all, sheet acetate, the kind used on old style overhead projectors. Put a drop of gelcoat in the scratch, put acetate sheet on top, smooth upwards moving any trapped air out and tape down.

The acetate will give the surface a glass smooth finish. Sometimes I've left that surface "as is" and sometimes I've wet sanded to blend it in perfectly and then buffed. Old timers called this method "cello finishing".

Works super well and after the first couple of scratches you can do it pretty quickly.

Ron
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Old 11-04-2012, 01:28 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Ron in BC View Post
I don't want to write a book on gelcoat repair but since this topic has come up many times I'll just make two brief comments.

One: go to a shop the sells FG products where the staff will give you good info and sell you what you need. Marine stores are great but the staff might never have done a gelcoat repair.

Two: The heart of a good and easiest to do gelcoat repair is covering it with vinyl, poly or best of all, sheet acetate, the kind used on old style overhead projectors. Put a drop of gelcoat in the scratch, put acetate sheet on top, smooth upwards moving any trapped air out and tape down.

The acetate will give the surface a glass smooth finish. Sometimes I've left that surface "as is" and sometimes I've wet sanded to blend it in perfectly and then buffed. Old timers called this method "cello finishing".

Works super well and after the first couple of scratches you can do it pretty quickly.

Ron
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Old 11-04-2012, 02:07 PM   #12
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...and sometimes I've wet sanded to blend it in perfectly and then buffed.
I find the trick for wet sanding is to have a selection of tiny, completely hard sanding 'blocks' to wrap the wet and dry paper around.

The 'completely hard' is needed so that you only sand the proud bits and not the hollows. Anything rubbery will conform to the surface to some extent and so not flatten it but just make the bumps glossier.

And 'tiny' means no bigger than the defect being repaired - for a single scratch, I find the best 'block' is a 1" long piece of 1/4"x1/4" wood strip, wrapped with pieces of wet and dry not much bigger than a large postage stamp. Really

The aim is to never make the repair any bigger than it already is - it's dangerously easy to start with a scratch and end up with 6" square repair.
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Old 12-03-2012, 10:38 PM   #13
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Always learning cello method sounds great
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