Fixing Gel Coat

[lynyrdsky1]

how do i repair gel coat on 20 '3 2001 champion. Its not bad its just faded and cracked near 2 of the cleats where it was pulled against. Its my dads boat so i want to do something that is easy and hard to screw up so i dont mess up his boat

[Fishing Rhino]

There is no "easy" way to repair gel coat.

You mention stress cracks where the dock line pulled on the cleats.  The problem with cracks of any kind in gel coat is that they are impossible to clean short of sanding them down and applying a coat of new gel coat.

Then, you have to worry about the new gel coat matching the old.

Gel coat does not spray like paint.  It is thick and will have a worse than orange peel finish.

There are several types of gel coats, and two types within each of those, a gel coat with wax, and without wax.

Unwaxed is used for laminating.  Waxed is used for finishing.  The reason for the wax is it will come to the surface and prevent air from coming in contact with the gel coat.

Gel coat is a curious substance.  It is designed to remain tacky where it comes in contact with air.  It allows the gel coat to form a chemical bond with the laminating resin during layup.

So, you spray on the waxed gel coat which leaves you a bumpy finish worse than orange peel.

Now, you can sand it smooth with progressively finer paper down to 1200 or even finer wet or dry paper. 

Once that is done, the surface can be buffed to a high gloss finish, or to a gloss which will match the rest of the boat.

I work with fiberglass and gel coats, and apart from very minor repairs to dings and diggers, I wouldn't attempt to repair any significant area of gel coat.

Not having seen the boat, my guess would be that what you have is less noticable than attempted repairs would be.

[lynyrdsky1]

its pretty faded around the top cause it sits out side ill post pictures when i get the chance.

[bryand82487]

"Normally" fading is oxidation that has built up over your gel coat.  I purchased a ski boat that had oxidation on it and I removed it with Meguiars oxidation remover.  I bought a foam pad that you insert into a drill from Auto zone.  This kind of turns it into a buffer but has a lot more power.  It takes a little bit of work but you can make a boat look brand new again.