Guest DavidRon Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 I've pranged the back end of my Autotrai. The gel coat is damaged to an area about the size of a tennis ball. One repairer will fill it with fibreglass and spray £250. Another will order the gel coat from Autotrail (£15-£20) to match the colour and rub down for 3 days £350+. Any suggestions please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ralph Posted October 8, 2005 Share Posted October 8, 2005 Depends on your colour. I did a similar amount of damage to the rear of our Elddis and found that I could buy from a yacht chandlers a Plastic Padding Gel Coat in white that when filled and rubbed down then polished made a repair that was indistinguishable from the rest of the van whole job took an afternoon. By the way it has white hardener to give a perfect brilliant white finish, but you can add tiny amounts of the standard yellow hardener to create varying degrees of white to cream, mix some on a card prior to use and allow to harden to see the colour difference then add the yellow till the correct shade is achieved. If you cannot match the colour you could consider doing it then putting a covering , sticker, enblem or fitting over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest martin Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Turning everything inside out ... as I'm wont to do can I ask how to use the same technique to repair a small mark on the sink?! I assume the process is similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DavidRon Posted October 10, 2005 Share Posted October 10, 2005 Ralph Thanks I'll give it a go I can always take a hammer to it if I go wrong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mel E Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 Martin, if it's a gel-coated plastic sink, yes, the Plastic Padding kit will work. If enameled metal sink, then you need an enamel repair ket - from an old-fashioned hardware store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MelE Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 DavidRon, just an additional note - you cannot use gel coat to fill any damaged areas, as it is only a very thin finishing coat. So you must make good the damaged area first, either using a Plastic Padding GRP repair kit or microballoons. Once the surface of the damaged are has the right shape and is almost level with the surrounding gel coat, then you can apply the gel coat. One final tip - do not use polish containing silicon on gel coat (such as Mer). Over time it softens the gel, leading to micro-cracking and a very unsightly appearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ralph Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 DavidRon, Yes, sorry its me when I refferred to polish I was thinking of Fareclae G10, because as you rub down the surface of the repair even using 3600 wet and dry paper there will be a dull finish until you use a fine cutting compound to 'polish' up. A word of warning if you do decide to build up any depth, I personally wouldn't, only repair any damaged fibres behind with one of the propriatory 'Gap Fillers' with glass fibres in, ensure you do not get any near the edges as you will find that they show up when you rub back and polish, does not look good I made that mistake and started again. Incidently the gell coat repair from Plastic Pading can be used much more thickly than ordinary lay up gel coat, is useable like filler and remains flexible. One part of my repair was nearly half inch thick. My repair has been in place for 4 years now and is still not noticable, hasn't cracked, dropped out or changed in any way since I did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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