Seeking Advice: Repairing Damage to Gel Coat

[Spike]

Due to operator error, our Ollie (Hull #222) suffered a booboo via contact with a fence post. One of the photos reveals the longer scratch, about 22 inches in length. The other--oh so ugly--reveals the deepest damage, about 8 inches long. Depending on the advice I hope to get, I may attempt the repair myself, but may need to seek a professional for the fix. I would appreciate advice concerning both the do-it-myself approach and for seeking the best professional for the job. Thanks.

 

[Mike and Carol]

Wow!  Sorry about the aggressive fence post.  I have no experience in fiberglass repair so I will be very interested in responses from those who do.  Mike

[topgun2]

There is a whole very long thread over on Fiberglass RV Forums:

HERE

They cover the whole spectrum there.  After a bunch of sanding, filler, sanding the hardest part will be to get the color match for your hull.  Even all Olivers are not the same color.  If you want to get that perfect then I'd suggest that you talk to Service and see if they can get you a small amount of the correct color for your Ollie.  

Good luck!

Bill

[ScottyGS]

Does not look like a DIY job.  Not for me anyway.  If you're not near Hohenwald...  Check for a boatyard that does fiberglass repairs.  There was a thread a while back about someone who drove into an overhang and put a triangular hole in the front corner.  He took it to a boatyard and you could not even tell. 

 

[SeaDawg]

Well, that stinks, and I'm really so very  sorry.

Good news is, it looks like you missed most of the contours of the belly band, and, it's not very deep, so it shouldn't be too tough for a good shop or boatyard. I've seen much, much worse.

If you're close to Hohenwald,  open a ticket and  go there. If not, start looking for marine fiberglass repair shops. I know it hasn't happened to you before, but this stuff (unfortunately) does happen all the time, boat vs.  pilings or seawall.

Check references,  of course, but hopefully there's someone in fiberglass repair near you with a good reputation and skills. It's really not a huge job. The toughest part will be matching gel coat color. Even if you get the ral number from Oliver, it may not be a precise match, anymore, after some years in the elements.

 

 

 

[John and Debbie]

1 hour ago, SeaDawg said:

Well, that stinks, and I'm really so very  sorry.

Good news is, it looks like you missed most of the contours of the belly band, and, it's not very deep, so it shouldn't be too tough for a good shop or boatyard. I've seen much, much worse.

If you're close to Hohenwald,  open a ticket and  go there. If not, start looking for marine fiberglass repair shops. I know it hasn't happened to you before, but this stuff (unfortunately) does happen all the time, boat vs.  pilings or seawall.

Check references,  of course, but hopefully there's someone in fiberglass repair near you with a good reputation and skills. It's really not a huge job. The toughest part will be matching gel coat color. Even if you get the ral number from Oliver, it may not be a precise match, anymore, after some years in the elements.

 

 

 

"It's really not a huge job. The toughest part will be matching gel coat color. "

I know nothing about this,  that being said,  I was impressed with the color matching abilities of paint stores like Sherwin-Williams that can do a great job matching colors even matching paint that has faded.   It might not apply here,  but as I said,  I know nothing about this,  but perhaps they can help.   My apologies for offering possibly useless ideas. 

[SeaDawg]

That's true, @John Welte, and a good shop will get it right. Gel coat can be  tinted, just like paint. Even better that the scratches are in the change of plane of the the narrow belly band. 

Fixed properly,  no one will ever know it ever happened. It'll look just like it did before that darned fence post intervened.

 

[Trainman]

Being a retired body shop mgr. for over 35 years that always looked like $$$$$ signs to me. Normally a body shop would not do that type of repair as the fiberglass work is one thing, but the Gel Coat color matching process is another, something a boat repair shop would do. I once had a boat that got scratched on the side at the rear, I did the fiberglass work, but not do the Gel Coat, I put a decal stripe over it and matched the other side of the boat to match. For me today I would just take it back to Oliver and have them repair it, mainly because they can match the color with there Gel Coat and you will never know it was damaged, probably needs to be an insurance claim. I feel a good boat repair shop that does fiberglass work could do as well as Oliver, but finding one would be the biggest challenge in todays world. Good Luck, trainman