Sunfish Gel Coat Patch - Part 2

Well I sanded and sanded, and applied my white gel coat mix, with yellow tint. The second patch looks better, but let me give you one piece of advice. Gel coat changes color when it cures. The color I had matched when applied was perfect (or close), but to my dismay, when it hardened it brightened up. Anyway, it is good enough for right now. After the boat has been hauled in for the winter, I might give it another try. Although cosmetically it is not the best, it is completely water tight, and has strengthened the area considerably. This weekend, I am going to compound and wax, and move on to other items.

The Results!

Well I sanded down my fix, and wasn't too happy with the results. The neutral gel coat that I used, seem to have a transparent quality that showed the previous damage below. Structurally it is fine. I will sand it down to a certain point, and re-gel coat the area with a white colored gel coat paste with the appropriate yellow tint. Also I wasn't too pleased with my attempted color match. If at first you don't succeed, try try again I guess.

Gel Coat Fix/Repair The Sunfish Deck

Well, I finally took the plunge and refinished the portion of the deck that was damaged. I have never worked with gel coat, but the repair went smoothly enough. I used a large portion of the can of paste to spread over the repair, and a large amount of hardener.

I was all set to add the proper amount of hardener, when I squeezed the bottle of hardener too aggressively, and it squirted into my yellow gel coat mix. After that I had to eyeball it (which is not recommended). My thinking was that if I used 3/4 of the can of gel coat, then I should use 3/4 of the bottle of hardener. The mix worked, and it started to harden within the hour. I guess I was lucky.

I started to use the gel coat paste right away after I added the hardener, the consistency was like cake icing. As it started to harden, it came more like peanut butter.

In the end I think I slathered on too much gel coat. I started to wet sand the repair to make it flush with the deck, but I was getting no where. This weekend, I am going to dry sand the repair with a palm sander - 180 grit paper, make it flush, and then wet sand.

After that, I am going to compound the repair, and wax. After that we will see how detectable the repair is. I am not too concerned how perfect the repair is, I just wanted a strong repair. The previous owner spilled something that had burned right through to the gel coat. This would have caused water to be absorbed and would have weakened the area over time. The previous owner slapped on some paint to fix the job. However, I wanted to go one step further and repair it properly.

There was also a small chipped area in the mast tube that I fixed. I will have to sand that area as well. Here are the before and after photos. I know it doesn't look pretty now, but with some sanding, compounding, and waxing, it might look a whole lot better. The chalkiness of the gel coat is just due to the run off of the sanding.

Painted Coaming

Well I prepared the boat this weekend to do the gel coat repair. However, when I opened the gel coat repair kit can, I found the gel coat had gone bad. It was as hard as a rubber ball. I will have to return it to the store I bought it from. So instead I decided to repaint the coaming. You could prime the coaming and paint it with a proper marine paint, but even the manufacturer recommends just a weather resistant spray paint. I previously painted the coaming with Krylon Fusion spary paint, but didn’t like the results (I also applied to much paint, resulting in drips all over the coaming). In addition, I also filled some cracks with an epoxy stick I had kicking around. So, I broke out my palm sander, sanded off the previous finish, and started from scratch. This time I chose Rustoleum Plastic spray paint, and you can see the results below! Looks almost new!

Hardware Issues

Well, in my haste in purchasing this boat, I forgot to look on the boom to see if the standard boom blocks were attached. There were none. In addition I noticed another issue. At each position on the boom where the blocks are supposed to be, there is only one hole drilled right through to the other side of the boom. The newer version of the boat, has 2 holes drilled at each block and an eye strap. I am going to have to find an eye bolt to fit the single hole, and a substitute block with a shackle. Fun.

Installed Inspection Port & Installed Deck Eyestrap for Ratchet Block

Over the weekend, it was too cold to repair the gel coat. The temperature was below 15 degrees Celsius, and that means the gel coat wouldn't cure properly. So I decided instead to install the inspection port, and the deck eye strap to attach my new Harken Carbo Ratchet block (acquired off Ebay for a reasonable price).

I used a knock off dremel tool that someone gave me to cut the hole in the boat. The multi cutting tool bit I picked up for $5.00. It cut really well into the deck, but got really hot a few times. I had to give the tool a break once or twice! I used 3M 4200 sealant, to ensure a tight seal, and stainless screws, washers, and lock nuts to attach it to the deck. I put the bead of 3M on the deck, rotated the port, and drilled the holes necessary for the install. One word of advice, if you are using 3M 4200 do wear gloves. I spent the evening scrubbing my hands trying to get the excess off!

The eye strap for the ratchet block was very easy. I quickly drilled two holes for the strap after measuring, dabbed the screws with sealant, and tightened the screws, washers, and lock nuts.

Removing The Old Paint Job

Well for the past week, 1 hour here, and 1/2 hour there, I have been sanding the deck of my Sunfish trying to get rid of the previous owner's paint job. I have been using 600 grit wet/dry paper and it was pretty slow going. For the rest of the deck, I have been lightly sanding the gel coat with 2000 grit sandpaper. This has removed pretty much all of the old stains, and even small scratches in the gel coat.

The paint is finally gone, and now you can see where the damage was done. It looks like some acid or some chemical was spilled on the deck, and ate right through the gel coat. Rather than paint the whole deck again, I am going to coat this area with a gel coat repair kit. I have purchased a kit from our local sailing store, along with a yellow tint. You can see what looks like a chalky residue on the deck, this is just the small scratches created by sanding. Once the deck is buffed with compound and wax, it will look more mirror like.

This week I plan on adding an eye strap, to attach my Harken Carbo Ratchet block, and to install an inspection port.