Filling/repairing small gouges in hull

[advgaia]

My newly acquired Pearson 323 is on the hard and inspection of the hull has a very few spots that need attention. (pics included)

The shallow gouges on the bow need to be filled for an upcoming paint job. Would putty be a good filler, or would gelcoat fill and repair be required? Once the hull is smoothed and any scuffs taken care of, the hull will be painted with AwlGrip azure blue, so I'm thinking that gelcoat might not be necessary. How would 3M 5200 work on these small scrapes? I also have JB Weld Waterweld Epoxy. Would this work as well for a long term fix?

Now for the bigger fix....on the keel, there are two chips on the keel that are clean through to the fiberglass. Both are a little larger that a quarter dollar in size. Question...should these be glassed over, or would putty work as a permanent filler. Thank you for your replies and guidance. This boat, BTW, is my first.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by advgaia

My newly acquired Pearson 323 is on the hard and inspection of the hull has a very few spots that need attention. (pics included)

The shallow gouges on the bow need to be filled for an upcoming paint job. Would putty be a good filler, or would gelcoat fill and repair be required? Once the hull is smoothed and any scuffs taken care of, the hull will be painted with AwlGrip azure blue, so I'm thinking that gelcoat might not be necessary. How would 3M 5200 work on these small scrapes? I also have JB Weld Waterweld Epoxy. Would this work as well for a long term fix?

Now for the bigger fix....on the keel, there are two chips on the keel that are clean through to the fiberglass. Both are a little larger that a quarter dollar in size. Question...should these be glassed over, or would putty work as a permanent filler. Thank you for your replies and guidance. This boat, BTW, is my first.

The gouges on the bow need to be filled with epoxy thickened with colloidal silica. This is the job of the person doing the prep work for painting.

The keel that’s fairing compound that came off. Is that metal under it? It needs to be grinded at the edges as well as the smooth center then filled again. Epoxy thickened with micro balloons would work wel there. Again, work for the painters doing prep.

[Ryban]

IF it's an encapsulated keel and that's glass under those chips, then it might be the gelcoat that chipped, in which case you should check for delamination nearby, but otherwise can fix by gridding the edges to make a nice transition, and filling with gelcoat or thickened epoxy. If you use gelcoat, you'll need an epoxy barrier coat on top of it.

[advgaia]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

The keel that’s fairing compound that came off. Is that metal under it? It needs to be grinded at the edges as well as the smooth center then filled again. Epoxy thickened with micro balloons would work wel there. Again, work for the painters doing prep.

This is from an encapsulated lead keel and shows glass, not metal. The epoxy fix seems plausible. And since I'll be doing some minor spider crack repair, I may end up smoothing it with gelcoat.

Thanks for your comment, Jedi

[advgaia]

Originally Posted by Ryban

IF it's an encapsulated keel and that's glass under those chips, then it might be the gelcoat that chipped, in which case you should check for delamination nearby, but otherwise can fix by gridding the edges to make a nice transition, and filling with gelcoat or thickened epoxy. If you use gelcoat, you'll need an epoxy barrier coat on top of it.

This is what I've been suspecting....the gelcoat chipped and lost somewhere along the way. (possibly from the haulout?), as there's no indication of marine growth.

It'll be a good time to break out my Dremel to inspect the damaged area further.

This is something I plan on taking care of, myself.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by advgaia

This is what I've been suspecting....the gelcoat chipped and lost somewhere along the way. (possibly from the haulout?), as there's no indication of marine growth.

It'll be a good time to break out my Dremel to inspect the damaged area further.

This is something I plan on taking care of, myself.

The good news is that epoxy will bond to it perfectly. Remove what is loose but don’t make the spot too big…

Trowel the epoxy fairing compound on (TotalFair works really well) and use a thin batten or a piece of thin plywood to shape it. Bend it using the undamaged area around it as guide. Let cure, sand and repeat as it will crimp a bit.

If the area is large, then repair it in steps so that you have enough reference surface nearby for the batten.

[Scrimshaw4]

While the inquiry is about filing blemishes prior to painting the hull I have a question about the paint itself. Awlgrip vs Awlcraft 2000 as the topside paint. I have heard that Awlgrip can't be easily touched up but Awlcraft 2000 can be and therefore would be a better choice. Any thoughts on this?

[deltaten]

Awlcraft2000 is recognized as professionally applied spray only. Yes, repairable; but, once again, pro only (?) Ya might want to investigate alternatives. For the life of me, I can't remember the brand...stuff from Germany that BoatWorks Today is marketing.. Roll/no tip, very repairable and tough as nails....easy DIY too!

AFA gouges...what Jedi sez. TotalBoat epoxy filler and several applications of epoxy barrier coating. Anti-foul over that &good to go

[freshalaska]

I believe you are thinking of Alexseal paint.

[s/v Jedi]

What they mean with Awlgrip not being repairable is that you can’t polish it.

When you have some damage, professionals can spray and blend the repair in so that it becomes undetectable with a paint like Awlcraft or Alexseal that can be polished. You still need to spray it with Alexseal because rolling or brushing doesn’t allow that repair to blend. But you can roll the original paint job.

With Awlgrip, when you have a scratch, you can of course fix that by masking, sanding, filling and then simply brushing some new Awlgrip on. But from close up you can detect the repair.
I have tried different ways to get this as good as possible and first off I try to find a good spot to hide the painted area by making it larger. A corner, where light angles change is great. Then, after masking tape is removed you have this edge sticking out… I found it’s easy to get rid off using a card scraper. I tape the edges except for the one touching that edge, which brings it back to the thickness of the tape, then without tape very carefully until it’s flush. It’s almost undetectable but too expensive to pay a pro to do that, so diy only.

The bug advantage of Awlgrip is that it is a much harder coat, with better resistance against chemicals, fading etc. I also find it easy to work with once you know the tricks (thin it more.. 30-40% is not a problem; thin it until it looks like a mirror just like a spray job).

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

\…
Trowel the epoxy fairing compound on (TotalFair works really well) and use a thin batten or a piece of thin plywood to shape it. Bend it using the undamaged area around it as guide. Let cure, sand and repeat as it will crimp a bit...

I've found the vinyl siding [colour & texture] samples, found at big box home stores, make excellent [small, slightly flexible] trowels, for this type of work.

They can, also, be easily cut to size & shape, to fabricate dissimilar metals isolators, for smaller parts.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I've found the vinyl siding [colour & texture] samples, found at big box home stores, make excellent [small, slightly flexible] trowels, for this type of work.

They can, also, be easily cut to size & shape, to fabricate dissimilar metals isolators, for smaller parts.

Yes, great use for those samples

[advgaia]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

The good news is that epoxy will bond to it perfectly. Remove what is loose but don’t make the spot too big…

Trowel the epoxy fairing compound on (TotalFair works really well)

Jedi, the TotalFair that you reference is epoxy or polyester base? TotalBoat has both. The reason I ask is that gelcoat has a problem with poly based resins, ect.

If this is epoxy Totalfair, what is recommended for a barrier coat, since gelcoat will not do?

Pardon my innocence, as I'm a total noob.

[Bellinghamster]

You can't gelcoat over an epoxy repair, though. Polyester resin (including gelcoat) won't adhere well to epoxy laminating resin or thickened epoxy filler).
You can gelcoat over polyester layup (resin and glass) or polyester filler.

For under the water areas that are going to be covered with bottom paint, I'd fill with thickened epoxy, sand flush, primecoat or other primer made to go over epoxy, then bottom paint - no gelcoat needed.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by advgaia

Jedi, the TotalFair that you reference is epoxy or polyester base? TotalBoat has both. The reason I ask is that gelcoat has a problem with poly based resins, ect.

If this is epoxy Totalfair, what is recommended for a barrier coat, since gelcoat will not do?

Pardon my innocence, as I'm a total noob.

TotalFair is an epoxy based product. They also have a polyester based product but it has a different name. For finishing, see further below…

Originally Posted by Bellinghamster

You can't gelcoat over an epoxy repair, though. Polyester resin (including gelcoat) won't adhere well to epoxy laminating resin or thickened epoxy filler).
You can gelcoat over polyester layup (resin and glass) or polyester filler.

For under the water areas that are going to be covered with bottom paint, I'd fill with thickened epoxy, sand flush, primecoat or other primer made to go over epoxy, then bottom paint - no gelcoat needed.

You can use gelcoat but it’s not recommended as there are much better options. In this case, under the antifouling, I do this as follows:

After the final application of TotalFair has cured and been sanded, I rinse it with tap water, let dry, then clean with a rag and denatured alcohol. Then I first seal the repair. I use neat epoxy resin with regular/fast hardener like West System or Totalboat traditional or high performance resin and hardener. I brush it on with a disposable chip brush.
After overnight cure, sand it again, rinse, denatured alcohol.

Now we get to the last step. For this, use either Interprotect2000 or TotalProtect barrier coat and the antifouling. Mix enough barrier coat for 4-5 coats and apply first coat with an epoxy resistant roller. I often use the West System rollers, cutting them in half when I only need a small one.

Now you need to do the fingerprint test. These products cure pretty fast. When you press your finger in and it feels sticky, you see your fingerprint in the coat, but nothing sticks to your finger, apply the next coat.
Now the most important step: the first antifouling coat must also be applied hot onto the barrier coat, i.e. when the fingerprint test signals ready to recoat.

When you wait too long with the antifouling, it can fall off later on.

That’s it, I never had to sand any of the barrier coating. Before you start, sand a bit deeper than surrounding antifouling to get the coats of barrier coat to be flush. I flare the sanding out over undamaged surrounding antifouling and make each coat a bit larger area until antifouling covers the last sanded part.