northerndoc

Hey all- this weekend dinged the back corner of my 35' Fountain on the dock. It scuffed the gel pretty good, but don't think it went through all the way. How deep of a scratch can you sand and buff out before needing a repair kit? The deepest scratch is about 1/16" deep. I sanded the area with 1000 grit wet just to see and all but three of the scratches came out. Could I just sand the area with a heavier grit to get them out and then step up through to 1500, then buff? Thanks-

Steve 1

Careful do not over sand you have between 18 and 22 mills depending on how it was shot, a outside corner area on the deck is a inside in the mold and gets thicker gelcoat spray coverage,
I would mix tool makers ink reduced 4:1 with acetone and use this as a guide coat and drop back to 600 Grit clean up the scratches to about 90% then bringing it back to 1200 or 1500 (800 then 1000) should get it cleaned up 100%.

A word of caution use Domestic Abrasives; Example European or "P" (FEPA) 600 has a grit size of 0.001 which is the same as our 360 grit. Point being DO NOT MIX them LOL you can get it trouble.

northerndoc

All went well with the repair. Gently sanded down the scratches with 400 grit until I could just barely feel them. Worked up 600, 800, 1000, 1200. Then buffed it out with some wizards on the wheel. Put a little Leverage on her and looks better than new! I had gelcoat on hand if I went all the way through, but thankfully didn't have to use it. Nice when these little fixes go well- gives me the confidence to try other repairs.