Fiberglass work.... DIY or bring it in?

[Matt G]

When I bought my boat, it has several scratches and chips in the fiberglass. I've been thinking about either trying to repair it myself or having it done. This is the worst spot on the boat. It's about 6" to 8" long and 2" wide. The chips are just as deep, but are fairly small. How hard would this be to do myself, or about how much would this cost me to have done?

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Also, the gel coat is badly oxidized. Is there anything I can do to shine it up, or is repainting my only option?

Thanks in advance

[Matt G]

Here a two of the chips. They are small enough to be covered by a nickel.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1387029951.229757.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1387029963.139502.jpg

[smooth move]

i had a couple like that and used Marine Tex from west marine, but my hull is white and don't know if it can be colored. google west marine. the stuff was very easy to use and is holding up well.
i just looked it up and it can be pigmented with fiberglass gelcoat pigment up to 5%.

[Patt]

It looks like your hull could use a good wet sanding and waxing. For the fiberglass the best and cheapest way for DIY is to go to resin systems off of Swisco rd in sulphur. A gallon of resin is 25$ and is very good quality and than use chop mat to patch the holes


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[BuckingFastard]

ive done it. use epoxy. you can buy it from west marine. sand it smooth after and youll never know. only hard part will be color matching.

[Matt G]

Originally Posted by Patt

It looks like your hull could use a good wet sanding and waxing. For the fiberglass the best and cheapest way for DIY is to go to resin systems off of Swisco rd in sulphur. A gallon of resin is 25$ and is very good quality and than use chop mat to patch the holes


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The wife will be out of town this weekend with the youngin' so I'm planning on trying to work on the oxidation while she's gone. I was reading about Buff Magic with a dual action buffer and I think I may give that a shot before trying the wet sanding. I'm still undecided about trying to repair the knicks and scratches myself, but I really don't want to spend a lot on it, so it may be my only choice.

[Bdub]

Matt make sure you use Epoxy resin, its waterproof and will not absorb like cheap polyester. If you were near me I'd help you out, if you have any question message me. At the end of the day it may be easier and cheaper to have it done at a fiberglass shop but if you are into diy its pretty simple to do yourself. As for bringing the shine back, try wetsanding with some 2000 or 2500 and buffing it back out, it should do the trick but you may need to start with something like 1500. Any buffing compound should work, I'd recommend 3m products.

[Matt G]

Thanks for the offer Bdub. I just dropped off the boat to be compounded and polished, so that's 1 thing I won't have to deal with. Can te Epoxy resin be colored to match the blue?