Hatch rebed - Repairing Damaged gelcoat

[Cdn_bacon]

A lot of posts lately but I seem to have started a lot of projects I have no experience with lol.

So I pulled my leaky hatches and had some gelcoat come off with the hatch frame. All except one tiny spot will be covered by the frame. I didn’t think I should use 4000 before repairing and re-leveling the damaged surface. Question is should I use a gel repair kit or just use a fairing epoxy and sand it flush? Thinking about a future hatch removal and would the gel coat repair just come off again?

[tkeithlu]

Hmmm. I think I'd repair it with epoxy and sand it smooth. That leaves the question of what is on the under side of the hatch frame that is sticking to the gelcoat so well as to break it loose. Is the frame gasketed with butyl tape? Adhesive on both sides? What led to the leaking in the first place? I'd put a little mental energy into preventing a recurrence.

Best of luck with it.

[Cdn_bacon]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Hmmm. I think I'd repair it with epoxy and sand it smooth. That leaves the question of what is on the under side of the hatch frame that is sticking to the gelcoat so well as to break it loose. Is the frame gasketed with butyl tape? Adhesive on both sides? What led to the leaking in the first place? I'd put a little mental energy into preventing a recurrence.

Best of luck with it.

Hatch was sealed with what I'm guessing is 4200 and then the addition of gobsmacks of silicone. Core was dry though which is a bonus. Planning to use 4200 to rebed the hatch as it has screws and I'm not a fan of butyl unless its through bolted. Always afraid of tightening down with well used screw holes and stripping a hole.

Considered epoxy but waived off after learning that gelcoat won't stick to epoxy for those tiny bits that jut out past frame.

[s/v Jedi]

Clean that as good as possible, then use white colored MarineTex to fill those areas. Fill them a little higher because it crimps, then let cure. Sand smooth.

For new bedding I recommend the butyl tape from Rod Collins which I heard is available again…

[s/v Jedi]

Here it is: https://bed-it.com/