J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Nicks and Dings

Does anyone have recommendations on what to use for the many nicks and dings in the gelcoat on my deck?

There a couple of spots which look like a winch handle was dropped on, a few stress cracks and some other random spots with only cosmetic damage. I'm planning on doing a re-core job this winter for the starboard chainplate, but want to polish her up a little for the rest of this season.

I'm not concerned about the non-skid at this point. Any recommendations would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Rhapsody has the same maladies, compounded by some areas in the cockpit that have dripped resin spots from where I recored the hull. I've held off doing serious cosmetic work topside until I finish recoring deck areas that are wet. The "stress cracks" are probably wet core underneath. I've got some of that. Plan is to do all the work in one off-season, then awlgrip and non-skid the deck. I haven't found anything that works well on the deck, unlike the hull. The hull is easy to buff out and still looks pretty good. I'm happy to use soft scrub and a brush just to get the deck looking clean. The luster will just have to wait....

Marine Tex is a great product for fixing nicks and dings. Easy to use and comes in many different sized kits from very small to quite large. Bonds to virtually anything, can be used for cosmetic or structural repairs (even below the waterline) and can be easily sanded or painted. It is epoxy based.

http://www.marinetex.com/

@Rhapsody -- I have a few thumbnail size dings that go down to the glass and I'd like to fill those in. The awlgrip job will have to wait. The goal is to re-do the entire boat, but I'll do it in stages. Oh, if money and time were limitless...


@lakesailor -- Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Marine Tex (I was hoping to use something a little cheaper/easier than West System)

One thing to add - I've been using marinetex for this purpose for a while. I've found that a touch of brown pigment (not sure the brand...off the shelf at west marine) can make the pure-white martinetex match the off-white color of my decks fairly well.

After sanding very hard to spot.

-dan

Good tip on the brown pigment. I'm not sure if my deck is off-white or just very dirty, but it is more of a beige. I'll do a color experiment and let you know how it holds up to scrutiny.

yeah, it seems to cure pretty true to the uncured color, so i usually just bring it on deck in good light and mix to match.