ILCA Laser Gelcoat Repairs (Complete Guide)

[@davidmcgavin3784]

Thanks Dan, easy to follow video

[@ILCALaserSailor]

Great video Dan, keep them coming! @ilcalasersailor

[@danselfsailing]

Thanks! Your videos are a big inspiration :)

[@ILCALaserSailor]

@@danselfsailing I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity. Please let me know if I can help at all.

[@chrigdichein]

very well explained, thanks

[@stephentubby7689]

Nice Dan thanks a informative video

[@danselfsailing]

Thanks for watching!

[@alixbarks]

More accurate to say that gelcoat is a pigmented polyester resin. It is not a paint. It is designed to cure inside a mold, absent oxygen. It does not flow out to smooth finish like paints are designed to do. Which is why we use something to exclude air from gelcoat repairs, e.g. cello-tape over small chip repairs.

[@danselfsailing]

Thanks for the comment!

[@toshinaritakayanagi]

Thank you very much Dan for the very informative video. My Laser is old and its deck color is ivory (made 1982), and I do not find the ivory gelcoat available from Laser dealers. If I buy white gelcoat for Laser/ILCA, can I add pigments to modulate color to ivory? Thank you very much in advance. Tosih

[@danselfsailing]

Hi Toshi, thanks for watching! Yes, using a pigment in white gel coat will definitely be the best way to color match. Note that the gelcoat might change color after drying, so best to do a couple of experiment first!

[@toshinaritakayanagi]

@@danselfsailing Thank you very much, Dan!

[@mikkoxs]

How much gel coat would I need to gel coat a whole boat?

[@danselfsailing]

Not really sure as I've never tried to do that. Probably a couple of kgs I imagine. A 100ml tin gets you quite far. What are you trying to do?

[@mikkoxs]

@@danselfsailing I’m trying to repaint the whole boat but i’m not sure what I should do.

[@danselfsailing]

@@mikkoxs I would avoid repainting the whole hull - it's going to make it significantly heavier and be a very hard job without professional tools (gel coat spray gun, proper workspace with no dust etc). Here's a good guide on completely revamping the hull. www.schrothfiberglass.com/GelcoatRepairPrimer.htm

[@mikkoxs]

@@danselfsailing thank you I appreciate that. Do you think painting the boat would be a good idea?

[@danselfsailing]

@@mikkoxs Depends on your goals. For racing/competition, definitely not - painting is going to increase the weight of the boat massively. Just for recreational use, it should work well - I've heard of others doing this with good results.

[@emilienfrancois286]

"You can't see that"It was 25.9grams not 26

[@danselfsailing]

Caught me!