Gelcoat repair?

[madbrown75]

Hey, I have a 97XP that has a hole in the gelcoat on the bottom. I got the gelcoat repair stuff and mixed it up and patched the hole up. The fiberglass is still there, but water leaks through it ever so slowly. Anyways, I took the ski out last weekend along with my other ski, and rode around all day. When I got home, I noticed water leaking from the bottom of the XP. I looked under there and my gelcoat repair was gone and the hole is there again. So, my question is..How do I get the gelcoat repair to stay? I did not beach the ski or anything, the gelcoat just came off from normal riding.

[Watercraft Magic]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

You cannot use gel coat to fix fibergall damage.

For starters, you cannot properly fix fiberglass that is wet with water. You have to dry it completely first, then grind out any loose 'glass, then rebuild the 'glass with fiberglass and resin. The get coat is only a skin coat, not to be used as a filler, much like paint.

For instance: If the damaged area is 1 inch in diameter, you may need to feather out the area to 4,5, or 6 inches to properly repair it.

Some small damaged areas can be repaired and filled with epoxy filler, sanded then gel coated.

[madbrown75]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Thanks Bill, as far as I can tell, the fiberglass is not damaged. It is still smooth, but the yellow gelcoat is gone from an area about 1" by 1.5" Also, the gelcoat that is there is thicker than in most areas. I understand that gelcoat is only like the thickness of paint. This hole is on the very bottom of the ski and the coat is about 1/4" thick.

[Watercraft Magic]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

If the fiberglass is not damaged, why is water dripping out of it? I do not get it????

[madbrown75]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

I don't get it either. I can't take a picture of it right now because it's at my house in Vegas and I am in California. The whole thing is smooth though and the ski doesn't sink when you put it in the water. If the ski has water in it though, like this time there was maybe an inch of water in the bottom of the hull under the motor, it leaks out about 1 drop every 30 or so seconds.

Should I sand the gelcoat off of a bigger area and see if I can see fiberglass damage and then repair that first?

[Watercraft Magic]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

I would sell that watelogged POS in a heartbeat. Once all that foam and 'glass gets saturated with water, it weighs a ton more.

Consider this, the bottom of the Sea Doo along the center of the hull is very thick fiberglass, about 3/4 in thick. That is alot of fiberglass to have soaked with water, and good fiberglass is waterproof, so there must be some damaged fiberglass in the bottom of that boat.

[madbrown75]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Thanks Bill. Not what I wanted to hear, but thanks anyway. Selling it is not worth it to me because I paid next to nothing for it and I have had it for 3 years. It's still a fun ski to ride. I will look at it better and see what I can do.

[Watercraft Magic]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Fiberglass work is not rocket science. It is just messy and itchy work. Grind out a spot and push on the 'glass to find soft spots. If you find them, grind them out and repair them with new 'glass mating and resin. Sand it to conform to the shape of the hull and paint it.

[ZeroJunk]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

I don't know a lot about jet skis,but I rebuild fiberglass boats.You must have some stress cracks in the polyester.Sure would be great if you could get to it from the inside and put a glass matt patch over it.I usually fix these with epoxy and a medium fairing compound mixed to a peanut butter consistency..Build it up and fair it back down ,eventually with 320 grit.But,you have to paint it.Gelcoat is colored polyester resin.Epoxy will stick tenaciously to polyester but not vice versa.So,if you try to gelcoat over your epoxy repair it may not stick.

[Watercraft Magic]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

He needs to flip the hull upside down and fix it from the bottomside as the hull liner will prevent repairing it from inside the hull.

[WFO Speedracer]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Also a 1/4 thick coat of gel coat is not advisable,that is way too thick and it will crack or come loose at that thickness no matter what prep you do first.

[madbrown75]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Also a 1/4 thick coat of gel coat is not advisable,that is way too thick and it will crack or come loose at that thickness no matter what prep you do first.

That's what I was wondering about. It looks like it was that way when it was new. There is a piece missing and all around the hole is the thick yellow stuff which I thought was gelcoat. Would anything else be that thick and be the color of the ski?

[WFO Speedracer]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

Also a 1/4 thick coat of gel coat is not advisable,that is way too thick and it will crack or come loose at that thickness no matter what prep you do first.

That's what I was wondering about. It looks like it was that way when it was new. There is a piece missing and all around the hole is the thick yellow stuff which I thought was gelcoat. Would anything else be that thick and be the color of the ski?

Gelcoat typically should be no more than 25 mil thickness which is about 1/16 of an inch more or less.

[madbrown75]

Re: Gelcoat repair?

hmmm. OK thanks everyone for the help. I will try and fix it this weekend.