Bob, I had some glass work done on Busca (cockpit bulkhead instrument holes filled, sink and knotmeter thru-hulls filled) and the guy did a super job and matched the gelcoat perfectly.
I've seen repair work that included duplicating sections of non-skid patterns that were even indiscernible with close inspection. That's skill. Unless doing enough of it to warrant the practice (and practice makes perfect), it's probably a whole lot less aggravating to just have a pro do it if you want it to *really look good*. If less than perfection is okay, then the tube of air-dry stuff isn't bad at all. ******* To de-core the centerboard pendant, you just slide the cover braid back to expose the core (start with a raw end, not a melted end), clip off the core the desired amount (enough to thread the cover braid into the board and tie a knot in it), then slide the cover braid back down and seal-melt the end of it to prevent fraying. Piece of cake. Tod M17 #408 BuscaBrisas -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bob Olson Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 12:01 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Gel Coat Matching Bill, From what I've been able to glean from various websites regarding gelcoat, is that its primarily a production process material. In other words, it works best when sprayed into a mold as the first layer in the production process before the layers of fiberglass. I have a feeling that it would be difficult to replicate the original gelcoat look by applying it over a hull repair. And, I'm guessing that it would need to be covered in order to cure properly. Typically, a boat shop would spray a water soluable material over the gelcoat as a final step. After the gelcoat had cured, then the top layer would be washed off. That's why I'm leaning toward a linear polyurathane (sp?) product. More expensive than cocaine, but it sounds as though it's the right product for post production repairs. How the hell do you de-core part of a rope for a centerboard pendant? That's the thing that got me boggled right now. --Bob [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >In a message dated 4/17/2005 12:08:11 AM Pacific Standard Time, >[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >West System believes that you can put gelcoat over their epoxy. >Bob, >I was about to go buy another book when I had the right one all along (West >System Boat Repair & Maintenance). The book is inexpensive, around $3.00. On >page 8 it refers to the steps needed to use gelcoat over epoxy. Looks like my >little projects will be fine with the use of epoxy only. No need to use >polyester resin for the small hole repairs I've got in mind. However, they do >recommend a long epoxy cure time of two weeks prior to putting on the gelcoat finish. >Bill >"Tipperary" >_______________________________________________ >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats > > > > _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
