“There are small scratches about a finger length on the broadside. Some of them are a bit deeper. How can I do gelcoat repair in these sections?”

Despite all the care shown, one can sometimes not prevent small damages from occurring on the gelcoat. These damages can be fixed with no traces at all. We recommend that big damages are left to the experts. However, fixing small damages may be a pleasant pastime. One can approach the matter basically based on two methods:

• The first alternative is to finish the place slightly higher and then level the area using sanding, buffing and polishing in order to make it appear not any different from the surrounding surface. This method of repair will yield a perfect result, but it does require some skill.
• • The second alternative is to finish off the area of repair even with the surrounding surface. These kinds of repairs can be done quicker and are simpler. Only an expert eye can spot the difference.

Although the repair instructions are not difficult, it does include a number of details from the preparation of the damaged site to the coloring and the correct hardening proportions. So, explaining the instructions will constitute a separate article in itself. However, it is now possible to find a variety of qualified articles and videos. For example, the simple explanation at the site of http://www.boatingmag.com/how-to/how-to-repair-damaged-gelcoat may be informative.

I recommend the following: It is a very pleasant and meaningful pastime to allocate a total of few hours for several weekends in spring to the small damages of the previous season and to do some varnishing; moreover, it will draw one even closer to his/her boat.

Yusuf Civelekoglu

Cert. Marine Investigator

All the photographs are from the archive of marineSOLUTIONS