Active Mike

Guys,
Checking to see what is the best thing for fixing nicks and scratches in the gel coat and getting it to blend well.
I have heard that filling the nicks and spraying section with a good paint.
Active Mike

scarab21xl

For best results I suggest having the professionals do this job. I found a shop by running a search on the Internet for gel coat repair including my location. With some sorting I found a shop in my area that did an excellent job of repairing all of my scratches.

The shop did not use any paint. They actually do a gel coat blend and match the color. They also used a micro sanding of the hull to remove all fine scratches.

Hope this help, good luck.

later

if all you have are a few nicks and scratches that arent through the gel and not real deep i would try sanding and buffing first. if there to deep to sand and buff but not through the gelcoat i would get some gel from the factory then take some 220 and scuff/sand the area immediately arould the nick are scratch, take the sharp edge off the crater or scratch then mix up some gel and fill the nick or scratch. let it dry block sand level and buff. if your gelcoat is in good shape to begin with the results will be near impossible to see. good luck. in my opinion by filling and spraying out the gel you often times will create a larger area that is detectible then by doing the repair above.
later

mcollinstn

Gel is indeed thicker than you would think.
Try wetsanding with 600 to get below the scratch. Once there, go to 800 then 1500 then polishing compound.

If you KNOW the scratch is thru the gel, then later's advice is good.

(you can get a gel kit and coloring agents at a boat store and then experiment to mix the colors).

Active Mike

Thanks guy's for the input.