Front Bow Keel Damage by Hook
 

Hey guys, I was launching my Baja at LOTO this weekend for the summer to put it back in the lift for the season, and of course I forgot to take off the winch hook before dropping it into the water so I took a 3” gash out of the gelcoat. Does anyone know of any decently nice keel white tape or something like that I could cover that with? I’ve put A LOT of money into the boat, lift and condo this year and would like to just temporarily cover this until the end of summer if possible. Of course It bugs the crap out of me seeing it there.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Is this above the waterline, up near the bow eye?

It should only be a few hundred dollars to fix. And nothing is as good as gelcoat.

There are DIY kits. Buy some Marine Tex locally at WalMart or nearly any boat store/marina.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...+use+marinetex

And don't laugh, but Flex Tape is actually really good stuff too for a short temporary cover.

Thanks Sydwayz.
I’m actually not laughing at all. I did buy some flex tape but was afraid to use it lol, because the white wasn’t a glossy white. And I did buy some marine Tex but was afraid it wasn’t going to turn out well lol. Yes it is in that location and exactly.
It’s $500 to fix by professional, so I figured I would use a while 2” keel guard and cut a small strip of it to cover just that damaged area.

If you can get to the area when the boat is on the lift, get some 800 grit sand paper and sand the inside area of the damage, go around the outside slightly with 1000 grit, keep the area small. Get some white gel coat and brush it in with a small brush. Make sure the gel has wax built in so it hardens. If it is not to deep you can sand it once it is dry with the 1000 and hand buff it with some compound. This should get you through until your are ready for it to be fixed professionally at the end of the season.

With the way real estate is rocking the value of your LOTO condo went up more since you started this thread than the cost of the repair. It's April.. IMO just swallow the repair bill so you can feel good about your boat all season.

If it is accessible on the lift I know some of the gel repair places down there will repair it right on your dock if you don’t want to tackle it yourself. Otherwise I’ve had good results over the years using matching colored gel paste from Spectrum.

Thanks for the Spectrum tip, need some gel to patch some bow nicks in my 1988 Mako.