Gel coat repair

[SpearFisher4love]

Hey Everyone,

I have a 1999 SE that has some very minor scratching on the bottom right side of the hull.  Looks like it is more from sliding on and off a trailer than anything else.  This is my first boat and I like enjoy working on projects like this.  I'm thinking about cleaning them out a little and applying some new gel coat.  There are plenty of youtube and how to videos around so I'm not too worried about the application.  Wondering if anyone has suggestion or a brand they have used to get the coloring correct? Or if anyone has done this before I would love hear thoughts and opinions on which brand you've used.  The hull color is standard stock white from the factory.  I'm not sure if it's considered white or more of a creme color though. 

[Megabytez]

Contact Belinda at Defiance Marine. They have a gel coat repair kit for $30ish. It is pretty close to matching the hull color.


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[SpearFisher4love]

That's a good call.  I didn't even think about contacting Defiance Marine.  Thanks!

[blue heron]

Belinda can help with color too.  Mine is a year 2000 and I think the lightened the color in 2000.

[Fisherdv]

Belinda/Defiance cannot ship gel coat due to hazardous material restrictions. If you live close by, then you could pick it up.

[croaker stroker]

Definitely a special color, not white. Likely your hull and topside colors are also different.

A few suggestions if Arima cannot ship.

West Systems gelcoat at Westmarine can be color matched by your local fiberglass dealer. (Or the dealer's own brand)

You can buy pigments from a fiberglass supplier and try your own colormatching.

Spectrum Color gelcoat sells small touch-up quantities in some Arima colors. You can buy it at iBoats.com

I have found the WestSystems gelcoat to be better quality....more durable than the Spectrum.

[Tunacious]

I have fixed a gel coat scratch 3 or 4 times.
I'm terrible at getting it smooth and got no better with practice.
My local boat repair guy gave the two part gel coat to me a couple a different times.
I would just stop in and didn't even have my boat with me.
The gel coat he gave me wasn't a perfect color match but it was free.
Just last week I took my boat back to the same guy to get the bottom repainted.
I had him fix all my gel coat jobs and now I can't even see where he fixed it.

[AJFishin]

Here's a chart to help with mixing colors.
https://www.bottompaintstore.com/blog/gelcoat/color-match-chart-gelcoat/

[croaker stroker]

There is a "Mustard" fiberglass pigment which, along with black and brown, can come pretty close to both Arima colors.  "Yellow" primary color is too yellow.

I use a small screwdriver just dipped into the pigments to add just a tiny drop at a time to the white gelcoat.

[Fisherdv]

Be sure to let a test sample dry completely. The color may look like a match wet, but when dry it may be off slightly