gel cote coloring
 

i have a few gelcote gouges i want to fix on my boat. I've wored with gelcote before but never mixxed color in eth clear. I always used either white or orange tooling.

If i mix the color into the clear paste how close is it to the final color? Does the color change as the gel hardens or does it stay exactly the same as when you mix it?

I haev a burgundy/maroon hull. I think it was origonallya dark red and its just faded over time but i'd like to get as close as possible matching thr repairs to the current color.


Additioanlly a few of the rapairs are on the bottom of the boat and i will have to be workign upside down. What can i use to thicken the gelcote so it doens't drip off while its hardening? Can i even use a "thickener" or should i just wait till it starts curing before i apply it? And then just sand the crap out of it later on?

You may not start with clear. If you want a slightly yellow then you start with white and add colors to match that way.

Jon

A trick I learned was to mix the color with no hardener added. Dab it on and see how the color matches. Once it looks good you can add hardener and get to work. The color changes very little when the hardener is added.

I've neve rhad goos results mixing it myself. I can get the color to match when a drop is laid on the original color but it's very hard for the new gel to be made opaque. The result is that the sustrate color bleeds through.

The best thing I've found is to get some gel mixed up to match. I've had FiberGlast do it by sending them a matching piece from the boat and had good results.

go to West marine they have two brands of gel coat, get the evercoat gel paste, it is a neutral color, use their tint products in a tube up to 5%, this stuff is a paste and will not run like the liquid gel coat, good luck, and it does get a little darker when cured
Mark

I've only hand-matched blue and ivory shades. Similar to mentioned advice, do your color mixing non-catalyzed (no hardener) and work with the whole batch for the total repairs. Mix and dab some on.

The blue and offwhite had no appreciable color change when hardened, but I don't know if that is true for all shades.


And you've reminded me...
I've got a couple of gouges to fill on the SeaRay (from my one-eyed friend with the sharp-cornered pontoon who rafts to me all the time).