Sourcing gelcoat colours

[deancantfish]

Hi guys, I have an old Coxcraft Rumrunner that I am sort of making nice again.... I need some way to match the gelcoat colour to fix the holes that are left from previous owners... Is there a place you can take a chicp or something to to get it matched?... I am not interested in respraying the boat, just patching old screw holes and such.
Any Ideas?
Cheers
Dean

[deckie]

Dean..tis the realm of the pro glasser to get a v.good colour match. Us amateurs can try but its not like going to a dulux centre. All the manufacturers have their own gelcoat colours and whilst most can look "whitish", when u fill a hole u quickly find they are far from "white". First thing is to decide how anal u want to be about it...if u really want to do a decent job use some holes on the inside of the boat to get some practice. Just one reason why 2 pac is popular.
Got many to do ? Are they on the outside in obvious areas ? Sunny day helps but is it a fairly white gelcoat ? or more the ritchie beneau cream, the beige , the bone, the ivory or the off white ?

I can describe how this amateur does it but needs detail or its a waste of time. No real shortcuts to getting a good finish and if lots of them to do such as press stud holes on outside then worth thinking about a pro...do it half arsed and they stick out like dogs balls afterwards and may as well not bothered trying to match it. Assume its similar to painting in that prep is v important. First stage is to feather the edges of the holes and kind of flatten them into the surrounding gelcoat...often that involves increasing the size due to flattening out chipped edges etc but try not to make too large. A 1/2 inch bevel/countersink bit is your friend for all f/glass drilling..they're great at preventing chipping when drilling new holes and great to help fix small holes to fill. they're like a short stumpy conical bit with 4-5 blades and huge help with older gelcoat coz it can be v brittle. Wouldnt drill a hole in glass without one anymore, After drilling a hole use the bit to angle gelcoat away from drill holes so the fastening doesnt contact the gelcoat as u put it in....coz what u dont see is when u screw/bolt in the bloody gelcoat explodes creating a dogs breakfast if u want to take off and refill one day...but thats another story. Even if u pay someone to fit sometghing they usually shortcut this simple step. In this case if they're small holes like screws/bolts/press studs etc these bits are a nice quick way of prepping the hole edges, then use a thumb and wetndry to feather the edges flattish into the surrounds. I'll come back with a bit of time re the colour...Whilst i'm now better at it, a pro will always do a great job and worth thinking about if the boat had been butchered with things like lots of press stud holes etc for covers etc. takes a bit of practice and why i say try a first run on the inside where doesnt matter so much.
Will come back with some time up my sleeve, hopefully we can attract a pro or others that are good at it with advice/better advice than my amateur efforts with the colour matching, but best thing to do first is prep the holes which takes a little time if lots and then whack tape behind them. Steve

[deancantfish]

Thanks Steve, I have holes everywhere from old electronics and press studs, looks like Arnolds will be getting a visit...
Dean

[deckie]

Seriously, whoever came up with the idea of using press studs for boat covers on glass boats outta be shot. Horrible fiddly job to fix and quite often better to just leave/replace with new ones. ok ok i admit i'm guilty too ;D.

To get a rough match so wont look like polkadots, and bear in mind this is amateur hour way and in no way will it be as good as a pro could match...try this.

1. Ring Coxcraft and hopefully get an older bloke who's been there awhile, ask for their gelcoat colour or advice on colour match for your hull/year.
2. Ring FGI and ask if they might know. Dont just accept "no" and ring a few outlets coz you really want an experienced guy. I remember once getting some flowcoat mixed and the guy told me its the colour Southwind use. They might know off hand or can advise. Always best to go in person rather than phone.
If no luck try this, remember only for superstructure/inside non hull type areas well above waterline. Ask for some "tint" and white flowcoat/mekp catalyst, bits and pieces. If wanting to do the holes from the inside using tape/pladstic on the outside then get gelcoat rather than flowcoat..anyway just ask the blokes at FGI they'll help.

Best on a sunny day. Find a spot that cops a fairly representative amount of sun/wear (i.e not vertical surface, a 45deg angle perfect if have one) and prep/polish up a section maybe 6 inches as tho its the finished article after you've detailed it when finished. Around motor well is good coz easy access and cops sun/wear. Add a tiny amount of tint (and i do mean tiny to start) to the flowcoat (no catalyst) and smear a decent patch in this prepped section. Have acetone/clean rag at the ready. Get your head/eyes right down near it and kind of give it the once over from all angles, takes a bit to get your eye in but you can actually see a difference fairly easily. Wipe off with rag, then slowly up the tint (TINY amounts) and repeat, being sure u get it all off with acetone rag each time..u wont hurt the patch you;re using. When right you seriously wont even be able to see the patch of wet stuff. Tends to dry slightly darker so fractionally less tint better than too much.
When right add catalyst and work fast. Try not to overfill too much..just proud of holes coz better for sanding afterwards. If u spent the time prepping the holes right, (including wiping the prepped hole with acetone rag to get rid of dust/bits) you should avoid much if any cracking around old/new contacts, and by the time they're sanded you'll find it tough to spot them from 0.5-1m away and thats all that matters. Sand using wetndry and make sure u step thru grades and use a block, can start maybe 2-300ish (LIGHT pressure) then 400, 600, 800, 1200. Thats if u are doing a shmick job..never use much pressure coz u dont want to take back the old gelcoat.
A pro will probably shoot me and i might deserve it ;D but us amateurs can can only do our best and i found this does work bloody well. Like i said before...really depends just how anal u are about the finish and if lots around outside. Practice inside first. Pro's are not expensive at all for this type of work.