Gelcoat Voids on Deck

[Mark Wolff]

I am a new member to this group and I'm very excited to join the C34 fleet and be able to tap the collective knowledge of Catalina 34 owners and hopefully make a contribution myself as I gain experience.  I have just inked a deal to buy a lovely 2004 C34, hull #1681.  It's a freshwater boat and, in general, it's in exceptional condition.  The deal is subject to survey, which I am arranging, but I thought this community might offer some guidance on one question I am struggling with. 

The gelcoat on the deck has numerous, what I would call, voids (pictures attached).  Some have been repaired and some have not.  There are well over a dozen of these spots scattered around the deck, but primarily on the smooth areas rather than on the non-skid, and typically in an area of bends or curves.  I did test these spots with a moisture meter which indicated the areas were dry (good news).  I'm hoping these areas are mostly cosmetic and can be repaired, as opposed to indicating a serious and expensive condition to fix.  I have seen similar spots on other used Catalina's I have looked at, but not as many as I see on this particular boat.  Thank you for any thoughts and advice.
Mark Wolff
Hull #1681
Lake Texoma   

[Stu Jackson]

Mark, thanks for the photos.  Those are not voids.  They appear to be dings made by wayward hardware.  It is not structural and should be easily repaired with some easy gelcoat treatment.

[Noah]

Strictly cosmetic. Grind/sand back a bit and fill with gelcoat paste. Stress cracks take a bit more grinding to chase them out and then possibly a layer of chop strand mat over then gelcoat on top. Either case gelcoat will need wet sanding to at least 600 (some picky folks go up to 1,000-2000) and then light polish and buff. These folks can help you with supplies. Small paste kits are affordable but a quart of their liquid gelcoat (for spraying) is expensive and has a shelf life that you will have to waste a lot to ever use it up by expiration.
www.spectrumcolor.com

[Jim Hardesty]

Hi Mark,
I've used Marine-tex on small areas of Shamrock and the match was very good.  I cleaned the void/ding with a small bit in my Dremel, cleaned with acetone, filled flush and covered with plastic to cure.  Little or no finish sanding or polishing needed.
 
Here is what I'm talking about
https://www.amazon.com/Marine-RM305K-Epoxy-Mixing-Sticks/dp/B0B85H4F1H/ref=asc_df_B0B85H4F1H?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79852222006135&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583451685844221&psc=1

Jim

[Mark Wolff]

Thank you all for your review, comments and suggestions, this is very helpful and a huge relief that I am dealing only with a cosmetic issue and not something more serious.  I will now work to become an expert in gelcoat repair!

Mark

[Sailing Amok]

There's a channel on YouTube called Fish Bump TV, with a video called "Gelcoat Repair 101". It's well worth a watch. Also BoatWorksToday has lots of good videos. I've been watching a bunch as I have some repairs ahead of me this spring. Just needs to get warm enough. While we're on the subject, anyone out there have a starting point suggestion for colour matching the white on our boats? I guess they all age differently, but I've got a white base gel coat, and a basic tinting set.

[Stu Jackson]

While we're on the subject, anyone out there have a starting point suggestion for colour matching the white on our boats? I guess they all age differently, but I've got a white base gel coat, and a basic tinting set.

A friend loaned me some white gelcoat.  I asked this question.  He said, "It's Catalina white."  A year later he asked me to point out the spots I'd done.  I couldn't.  He fessed up and said, "I just use white, it all fades pretty soon."  He has a C36. 

Or call Catalina and ask them for "their tint."

Or wait for someone else to answer here. :D:D

[Mark Wolff]

Aaron & Kristina, thank you for your response. 

Regarding your question about matching gelcoat, I did notice that Catalina Direct offers Gelcoat for repair based on the year of your boat.  Apparently, over the years, Catalina had different shades of white.  I also found the TotalBoat YouTube channel and there is a video he does specifically on matching gelcoat, it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB2zw5jczIo

[Sailing Amok]

While we're on the subject, anyone out there have a starting point suggestion for colour matching the white on our boats? I guess they all age differently, but I've got a white base gel coat, and a basic tinting set.

A friend loaned me some white gelcoat.  I asked this question.  He said, "It's Catalina white."  A year later he asked me to point out the spots I'd done.  I couldn't.  He fessed up and said, "I just use white, it all fades pretty soon."  He has a C36. 

Or call Catalina and ask them for "their tint."

Or wait for someone else to answer here. :D:D

That's hilarious. So, presumably Catalina white is pretty white.

[Stu Jackson]

That's hilarious. So, presumably Catalina white is pretty white.

Well, it's white and it's on my Catalina 34, and I think it's pretty.   

[Carbon]

My boat had a bunch of blemishes like that, and I'm 90% sure they were voids left between the gel coat and the fiberglass when the deck was laid up. A couple of them were pretty big, like the size of a chicken egg by the time I got through grinding out the gel coat with nothing underneath. The biggest was on the forward starboard corner of the coach roof, right where you might expect it to be a bit more difficult to get the glass up tight. Some of it was wear-and-tear type damage, but the repair is the same (assuming no damage to the actual glass),

The good news is that it was easy to fix. I got the gel coat paste for my year (1988) from Catalina Direct. Ground the spots out and filled them with the paste. I ran up through the sandpaper grits to 10,000, then a bit of buffing; you can't even tell where they were.

A lot of cosmetic improvement for not much work.

[Stu Jackson]

I recalled today earlier discussions on this subject, so I did a search on "voids" and found this:

https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3601.0.html

Please also read the LINKS included in the replies on this topic, like in Reply #8 and others.  Pictures are included.

These are "bigger" voids than the merely cosmetic ones discussed here, but show examples of what's underneath the exterior skin of the cabintop.