> And now the questions, assuming you made it this far. I ended up with
> some shallow gouges in my gelcoat up near the chine and some spots
> along the bilge gutter at the very bottom where the gelcoat had
> completely chipped off, leaving the darker resin and fiber visible in a
> coupld of 1/2 to 1 inch chips. A couple of weeks ago someone (Judy B?)
> posted a gel coat repair procedure. I'm sure this will work for the
> gouges, but should I use the same process to repair the chips where the
> glass is exposed? Also, is there any harm in leaving my Potter in the
> slip with these (very shallow) chips exposed to the salt water?
Hi Kellan,
Sorry to hear about the scrapes and bruises on your boat and your feet.
I'm not sure about leaving the boat in the water (I'd ask a professional),
but I'd probably pull it out of the water to be safe rather than sorry.
Polyester is not a great moisture barrier.
You can touch up the surface damage to the gelcoat. The posting about gelcoat
repairs can be found at
http://members.aol.com/jblumhorst/Gelcoat.htm
As for the deeper chips -- if the polyester glass laminate is not weakend
(splintered or gouged any more than just a surface scratch) you can just
touch-up the gelcoat.
If there is any structural damage to the glass laminate, the laminate will
need repair. If that's the case, and you want to do the work yourself, I can
direct you to some videos or books that show how to repair the laminate. If
you see any glass fibers/splinters sticking out, the glass was structurally
weakeded. Check to see that the laminate was not peirced by poking at it
with a pointy tool.
Repairing the laminate consists basically of grinding/sanding out the damaged
area plus a margin and then replacing it with several layers of glass and
polyester laminate. Then you repair the gelcoat over it. If done properly,
it's literally as good as new. That's one of the beauties of working with
fiberglass. But there are lots of mistakes that a newbie could make, so if
it's your first fiberglass project, maybe you should consider hiring a
professional.
Best,
Judy B.