Gunwale repair or cover up?

[timpyron1980]

Hello, i have mis-drilled some holes in my gunwale on my '99 1800sr for a bimini top and wanting to cover the holes. Does anyone make a gunwale cover strip that i could run the length of the gunwale? I want to avoid fiberglass repair,paint,etc... if at all possible. Thanks for your responses in advance.

[seapuppy]

why would you NOT want to re gelcoat it???...that would be the proper way to do it...I'd get it reglassed and gelcoated....why do it mickey mouse??


just my opinion..


SP

[timpyron1980]

I would love to have it done properly but don't feel very comfortable doing it myself and concerned about cost paying someone else to do it.

[seapuppy]

go to west marine and get a fiberglass repair kit....cost is about 20 bucks....get some blue tape...tape off around the area so you don't do any more damage to the surrounding glass..
feather sand with about 150 grit sand paper just enough to make matching easy......underneath the gunwhale tape off the holes....now mix up some resin and activator in a plastic cup and put some fiber glass matt into the holes..saturate them and fill with resin....just under the surface.....let set up...should be a couple hrs and you can start rough sanding...smooth off any fiber glass standing up....then mix up and match the color of gelcoat to the existing surface...the nice thing about this is if it doesn't match....you can always sand it off and start over.....
pour onto the hole and smooth out...let set...once it's hardened....get out the sand paper and start with maybe 300 grit..then 800...then start wet sand with maybe 1000 wet paper...finally finish off with compound and wax....you won't be able to tell where the repair is...

or contract out the repairs for probably a couple hundred bucks for the repairs...depends on how many holes you have...

here's another explanation for fiberglass repair...of course dealing with a larger area
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/17.htm


and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsoKAHU5xUw

SP

[timpyron1980]

Thanks bud for the advice. Will try this weekend

[dsbunton646]

This stuff works wonders too! But you will still have to get the color right with some gelcoat match.
http://www.marinetex.com/marinetexepoxyputty.html