Filling holes in fiberglass. Help needed.

The bonehead that owned my warrior befor put the rod holders in some pretty retarded spots mounted on the side of the gunnels. Well i put in 6 nice flush mount scotties where they belong. but now im stuck with 24 horrible looking holes all over.

Is there some sorta Marine bondo that is the same color white as warriors gel coat??


any help would be great!

Sure,
A couple of ideas.
If you don't want to fill the holes with resin putty, you can pick up stainless steel plugs at the hardware store and drop them in the holes. If they are small bolt holes, then you can use colored epoxy putty from the marine dealer to fill the holes.
If you can get to the back side of the hole - put a piece of tape over the underside of the hole to keep the putty from falling through the hole.
If you can't, then - just take a piece of solid fiberglass - if you want to have a perfect fix, grind it down to a tapered plug, use 5 minute epoxy to glue it in place with the top of the plug a bit below the surface. Then, take matching epoxy putty to fill to the top. As you fill the hole - put in just enough to bring the surface level. Then, put clear packing tape over the top of the epoxy putty. You will be able to see through the tape to verify that you have a perfect repair. When dry, remove the tape and the hole is fixed with no further sanding or painting required.

Take care
REW

For color matched gel coat, try here: http://spectrumcolor.com/ specify make and year of boat. Get a patch paste kit.

I have found spectrum color's gel coat to be a perfect match. Granted, if your boat is faded, the new gel coat will stand out. There's another company called "mini craft" that is supposed to make pre-color matched gel coat as well. I have not tried mini craft however.

Gel coat is just the top layer. You will need to fill the holes with something else. Marine tex will probably work for that, or you could see what West Systems has for that. When you fill in the hole, do not fill it to the top so as to allow room for the gel coat (gel coat is the finish on top of the fiberglass).

Once you've filled the hole with expoxy, mask around the hole and apply the gel coat even with surface of tape (use an auto body spatula to apply). Let the gel coat cure. WET sand cured gel coat, start with 300 grit. Once tape begins to sand away (that's the indicator that your sanding the new gel coat flush with surronding area), switch to 400 grit, then switch to 600, 800, grits, and finish it up with 1000 grit. Lastly, apply some 3m wax and buff.

Brad, look on our website. At the bottom is the contact info for MiniCraft. They can send you our gelcote. If you want someone to fix what you have going on, give me a call. One of my guys does gelcote repair on the side, and he can help.

Troy

Sorry, I forgot to fill my name. Been having problems logging in here.

Troy
Warrior Boats

Can i use automotive bondo to fill the holes, and spectrem to refinish the gel coat?

Yes sir. Thats basically what everyone does. We do use Dura Glass though. It has fiberglass strands in it. Help to reduce shrinkage of the repair.

contact the boat manufacture with your hull number and they should be able to send you a pint of your color that you can use to fill the holes. ( champion did that for me a few times) to fill the holes, mix up the gel semi-thin and use a LARGE needle suringe. fill from the bottom out. cover with scotchtape ( if done right you don't need to do more). timing of removing the tape depends on how much hardner you used. mix it up in a bathroom dixie cup... it hardens quite fast! pour it into the suringe, tip upside down, push out air ( like you see nurses do) and your set to go. if you don't want to use tape, just leave a very slight bubble ontop of the hole as the gel WILL shrink when dried. sand and polish to a high luster. you will be able to tell ( since you know where to examine) but not many other will be able to see it at all!. very much worth the effort.