Best method for smooth gel coat application.

[er9]

I took off my companion way cover (dog house? whats it called?) to re-bed the mounting holes. when it was off I decided to try and repair some minor nicks and dings to the cover.

I had to do some grinding into the fiberglass and have since covered them with gel coat. Iv'e tried as hard as I can to blend and fair the gelcoat in the areas iv'e repaired but the existing 30 year old gelcoat seems so thin that I cant seem to blend my repairs without exposing a dark area of fiberglass around the repair.

Honestly my gel coat skills are not that great and maybe its just bad technique but im considering re-coating the entire cover in gel coat and wet sanding it smooth.

If I do this it seems like a paint roller would give the smoothest finish. any opinion on how to get the smoothest finish? roller, if so what type? brush, best type?

I just ordered gel coat with no wax and have a can with wax. figured id apply one thin layer w/out wax pigmented off white and then a second thin coat with wax pigmented off white (original color). Let it dry, wet sand and see where i'm at.

anything else I could do better?

[psk125]

The difficulty of getting gelcoat to match color and finish (smoothness) is why it is usually reserved for small spots. Nicks in your spray hood that you’ve had to grind out are likely too big for an easy fix. Overfilling in layers and (wet) sanding down as you describe may give the best results. At least it should last better than paint.