Not too sure if this post belongs in the bass fishing section, but I figured someone here has attempted this considering the places we run our boats through.

Long story short, I have two quarter sized dings on the hull of my boat I'm looking to repair myself. The quarter sized dings pretty much knocked off the entire white gelcoat leaving the dark fiberglass entirely exposed. Not trying to spend an arm and a leg on the repairs, but I've never attempted anything like this myself. Doesn't seem like too difficult of a task after watching several Youtube videos, but I wanted to hear personal experiences with similar repairs. In addition to any tips/pointers, I'm looking for some recommendations on which gelcoat resin brands or kits to use for the repairs? There are several cheap alternatives to choose from on amazon, but I want to make sure I purchase some proven resin.

Any feedback would be much appreciated!

If they are on the bottom white marine tex -

I don't recall the kit I got from one of the local boat dealerships but it is super simple. This one set hard as a rock and I sanded, then polished it down flush with the hull leaving little evidence of repair. Think I started with 600 grit, then progressively up to 1000 by hand before changing to rubbing compound and finally polishing compound on an electric buffer. Need to redo a small bit on the back lip of the hull that has opened back up (probably from going over it with a stump again) but all repairs on the flat part of my hull have held for 4+ years.

I second that.

I used the Marine Coat One kit below.

Repairing dings on the bottom white gel-coat is pretty simple. I idled over a metal pipe last year and had a gouge from bow to back of boat along with several knicks from beaching boat without a keel guard.

I repaired everything this year and bought a keel guard.

I would buy some plastic syringes to measure out quantity needed. I used disposable ketchup/condiment containers for mixing and mixed 25 mLs at a time and used a 1 mL syringe to dose the hardener. A little actually goes quite a long ways.

I tried multiple different approaches to apply. I had the best luck filling a 10 mL syringe with the resin+hardener after mixing, removing air, and injecting directly into the dings, then pass a plastic puddy knife over it to smooth it out. It was by far the easiest, cleanest and fastest method I tried.

I let it sit for 2-3 hours and then applied add'l coats when necessary. Waited the full 24 hours for sanding.


My only difficulty was when I attempted to repair a ding in the side of my boat using the coloring. I could not get the colors to match, and the gel coat didn't fully harden when i used the dyes. Didn't have a problem when I didn't use coloring.


https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Coat-One-Catalyst-Hardening/dp/B08L42157F/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1C2EZUTICVFX2&keywords=gel+coat+repair+kit&qid=1663096759&sprefix=gel+coat+repair+kit%2Caps%2C268&sr=8-6

Good to know, I'll keep the marine tex in mind. Both dings are directly on the keel just below my keel guard heading towards the stern of the boat.

Great insight Sprigsss. I'll have to look into ordering some plastic syringes to help with dosing and application.

Luckily, these two bad spots are just white so the color issue shouldn't be a problem. I'd still be interested to understand why the color impacted the hardening. Maybe the hardener dosage needs to be increased as you add more color? I'll have to do more research.

I'm betting I added way to much dye trying to match the color perfectly. I should have just contacted Skeeter directly and tried getting it from them.

If you need some syringes, I'm a chemist and have tons of them at my disposal. I can drop a couple handfulls in a box and send your way if you would like.

Just PM me an address.

This works pretty well. I've used it multiple times.

Sounds like several folks have had success with Marine Tex. I’m assuming you apply it in a similar fashion to any other gel coats? Does it leave as good of a finish compared to the other gel coat kits you can buy? Can you dye it similar to the other gel coat kits?

Marine Tex is definitely the cheapest so I’m curious to hear.

you can wet sand and polish it, it the color is what it is. You can buy black and white and mix them to form shades of grey, but to my knowledge that’s it.

Watch a couple videos on YouTube and you will get it.I have done a few white repairs on my Ranger with good success.Plus with it being on the bottom it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I use the gel coat repair kits. Its easy. There is some sanding involved and a dremel will help but being under the boat it wont matter if they are perfect

I have used 9 second Chip Fix by MagicEzy several times with great success and was very very easy to use and apply. The result was long lasting and durable. Bought it off Amazon.