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Gelcoat repair recommendation
JekRankin - 14/10/20 at 11:29 AM

Over winter, I'll be looking to get some minor repair work performed on my Fury's bonnet.

I'm looking at a couple of star cracks plus a 2 or 3 inch split under the headlight caused by a coming together with a rabbit.

I've been holding off tacking it myself, and have now decided I don't really have the enthusiasm or space to DIY it.

I'm therefore looking for recommendations for someone to carry out the work for me. Having been taken from freshly refurbished moulds, my Fury has a really good quality gel finish, so I'm looking for top quality work to try and make the repairs as invisible as possible.

I guess the majority of typical car body shops wont have the necessary experience with unpainted gel finishes, so boat repair specialists are probably the best bet? Willing to travel for the right people.... any suggestions?

Cheers,
Jek


Jaymaxi - 14/10/20 at 11:52 AM

Where I live, near the Shannon there are a few guys building boats, lake, fishing (Shetland type) boats usually working from home or small marina, they'd be your best chance to have the time to do car body repairs so visit a couple of the local marinas preferably river and make enquires, also if you've any boating/fishing friends they might know someone. I spent many years on the mechanical side working on the cruisers alongside these boatbuilders any of them would do your work with their eyes closed, John


Mr Whippy - 14/10/20 at 08:06 PM

Might be worth finding the exact gel coat colour first and making up a small sample to try on one of the damaged areas just to make sure you can match it. Gel coat is actually quite forgiving to use and is just a layer of plastic that can be brushed on with a small paint brush. It's easy to sand and hand polish needing nothing more than some wet & dry and some rubbing compound.


Mike Wood - 15/10/20 at 10:36 PM

Jek

This is a DIY job if you cannot find someone on the Clyde Coast who does boat repairs. There was someone making and selling Locost grp in Glasgow a few years back on here.

There is an excellent source of GRP materials in Glasgow - Allscot.
https://www.allscotltd.co.uk

If you do go DIY there is an excellent book by Miles Wilkins on how to do it properly (I got a reprint from Lotus Books in Germany).

Cheers
Mike