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I have some stress cracks in fenders where the mirrors are located and want to grind out cracks and apply new gelcoat to eliminate the cracks. Have read about ways and means of gelcoat restoration on a number of boat web sites but have yet to find any info on colour matching the new gelcoat with one that was laid down over 30 years ago. I have to mix gelcoat for the brown fenders and the cream colored body and have wasted a lot of pigment trying to come up with a colour match. Spoke to the marina I deal with and they have offered to do the work at $90 an hour CAD, aka $60 USD. This is the same marina that wanted $2000 to custom make a new top, and recover the seats and install new carpet.Any advice would be appreciated
David B Dixon
Port Perry ON CA
SabineYou have the right idea in terms of grinding out the cracks to fix them. You’ll want to lay up some new glass behind the repair as well.
I’ve never heard of anyone getting a spot gelcoat color match. You might be way ahead of everyone here if you know someone who could get that done. I’d probably pay the $60 for it.What we do after fixing stress cracks is paint the car. Schu did this to great effect, and Billinparts did it more recently with a brush finish.I second edsnova. My car also had a lot of stress cracks. The body shop ground them down, applied new fiberglass to both sides and re-sanded the outside. This is necessary to strengthen the area in question and thus attack the cause of the stress cracks. More fiberglass is a “must.” Just grinding these areas down would further weaken an already weak area and the cracks would come right back. As for the finish, I made no effort to restore the gelcoat and opted for fresh new paint (which requires primer first). Huge improvement — you can’t get gelcoat with a color this deep and shiny, plus real paint allows easy touchup and repairs if needed in the future.
Snowmobile shops also repair fiberglass . I understand that paint shops have thing thing they point at the paint so you can get an exact match anybody know about this?
Many years ago I damaged my fight front fender, the fiberglass repair was no problem. I was able to get paint matched to the gelcoat and finished the fender by spray painting. Even though the color matched there was a noticeable difference in the finish between the paint and the gelcoat. The next year I disassembled the car and pained it piece by piece.
Figurign that had to be ways to color match gelcoat, just like there are ways to color match paint.
A quick search turned up multiple options. Here are just a few:Fibreglast blends over 900 colors:BottomPaint sells tints, you have to blend yourself (but they have suggestions to get you started – see second link)Looks like Jamestown makes you blend your own also:PMOSSBERG2015-10-05 11:57:46
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
David,
I fixed all the stress cracks in mine before a paint over gelcoat and can give you a list of all the materials I used if you send me a PM. It requires using a dremel tool and a special tip and lots of work.Unless the fiberglass is cracked all the way through it does not require fiberglass work but only gelcoat work with special materials. My car has been on the road now for 10 plus years without issues. I am doing another car over the winter as well. I suggest painting over the gelcoat when you get done. Leave the car in pieces to paint and then assemble.
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