The roller on one of my trailer guides came apart last year on a trip to Lake George.. Because the roller came out I was left with a bracket that was given plenty of time to gouge the crap out of my gelcoat.. What should something like this cost to fix?

Faded reds tough, really tough. I can see some chalking there in the area and it will be difficult to hide any sort of blend. Cost depends on what you would like in the end, a nearly perfect job may have to include buffing out the whole boat. A repair like that on a perfect uniform color surface could be in the thousand to fifteen hundred dollar range. Now heres where it gets tricky, a perfect job on a distressed surface brings in everything around it and could involve buffing or in extreme cases shooting the entire side of the boat. When i get jobs like this i always try and asses exactly what the boat is and be realistic of its current condition. Establish a budget and discuss what can be done and what results can be expected based on the assessment and level of commitment. Truth be told i try and keep these type repairs small and inconspicuous, work within the area and do what I call an "improvement" Generally this can bring the cost down significantly (four - five hundred range for the above) as long as all parties are in agreement as to what can be expected, it may be slightly noticeable but i would do everything in my bag of tricks to minimize it. Find a tech that has references in your area, someone with experience should be able to guide you through the whole thing before the first tool is touched.

I'm not expecting perfect, I just want it to look better than it is. I end up buffing it every year, and the color comes back pretty well.. It just doesn't last all season.

I had a CC 260 and it did the same thing. I swore it faded right behind the buffer lol. I would keep yours simple

wheel the side with Vibra
the gouge looks like its confined to the surface gel (for the most part) a quick pull of 3M's premium marine filler should catch it.
Spot gel to match as close as ya can, done right should hide reasonably well (for the most part lol)
enjoy the season

Yea that sounds like how mine fades too lol.. Especially above the rub rail.

That sounds like a reasonable plan of attack. Like I said, not looking for perfect. And as it is, it'll probably go up for sale at the end of the season to go bigger..

And by spot gel are we talking filling it, airbrushing it and going over it with clear gel?

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/l...king-ugly.html

I feel your pain, I fixed mine myself, and it looked it. However, it looked a whole lot better than the scratch. A person could pick up the repair job on the right angle, to properly do it, you need to shoot the entire side with clear. I didn't think I would notice mine, but it drove me nutz, that damn repair was the only thing I saw when I looked at my boat. Now I'm an anal SOB when it came down to scratches and the boat being in pristine condition, if you're not that way, I would do it yourself, first spend an entire day trying to match the color. The fix is easy, it's the color match that's a PIA and that's what you're paying the person for if you take it some where else.

good luck

do your compounding before trying to match the gelcoat. An Evercoat repair kit with color tubes will be the easiest, at least to protect the fiberglass. After compounding try some 3M finesse it II and/or Scotchguard liquid marine wax to help keep the shine longer. Here's a good article on gelcoat restoration if needed.