I have just purchased my second boat a Seaward Tyee. After the shakedown paddle I put the boat on a homemade kayak carrier that I use for my plastic Sealution. After hauling the boat a short distance I noticed the cradle had become loose and the carriers black plastic wheel was rubbing on the hull of the boat. Further inspection showed that besides the black scuff mark I had wore a 1-2 cm scratchlike gouge in the gel coat. How can I repair this darned mistake? Will the damage worsen if not taken care of immediately? Boo Boo prize of the day to me
Something I have done occasionally
when a scratch has cut through the epoxy “paint” on my Dagger C-1 or my Bluewater tandem, exposing cloth:
I clean the wound and then squeeze a small amount of “superglue” onto the cloth. It hardens with a smooth surface and seems to last.
Actually, I am not among those who believe that a small area of exposed cloth is anything to worry about. Such wounds seem never to lead to any problems, myths about water-wicking Kevlar notwithstanding.
Thanks for the glue tip
Now that sounds like an until end of season solution. Thanks for the tip.
I wouldn’t recommend it
The reason is that before you do a proper gelcoat repair, you have to remove all of the Super Glue, which means that you’ll be taking some of the fiberglass with it.
Besides, it doesn’t take that long to sand the damaged area and apply some gelcoat. The most lengthy part of a gelcoat repair is wet sanding and buffing, but it doesn’t need to be done immediately after applying the gelcoat. You can do the finish work at your convenience, which could be at the end of the season, if that’s what you want to do. For the small area you’re talking about repairing, it would only take 15-30 minutes to finish it, so you might as well just do it. You can apply the gelcoat one evening, then finish it the next and have the satisfaction of a job done right and a pretty boat.