Gelcoat Stress Cracking

[BobT]

Dear Mine of Information,

Hopefully the photo shows clearly some quite long stress cracks in the gelcoat spreading out from the bottom bracket for the mizzen. I will look the reinforce the back of the area but appreciate any advice on how to tackle the cracks. I suspect some significant grinding and then filling? If so filling with what?
Fortunately I have Escape on the drive so have been spending some additional time looking her over. I suspect I will be back with more questions soon!
Regards to all,
Bob

[Peter Cockerton]

Holes not been drilled big enough in the gelcoat Bob, screw shanks stressing the gelcoat in my opinion, I would take the screws out and drill just the gelcoat a little bigger before you repair the damage, the cream gelcoat RAL number is in the forum library somewhere. I could look up the supplier I have used in the past if it would help.

Peter C

[TimLM]

Good morning Bob, the gel coat number is RAL 9001 and you can buy it from these people:
East Coast Fibreglass Supplies
www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.u k
Sadly they seem to only supply it in 3kg cans, but I'm finding that is no bad thing with the mods I've taken on this year.
To do the repair you have to be strong to take out the crack. Both my son (he used to do this professionally) I use an old wood chisel and drag it backwoods down the crack causing a right mess, however this leaves an excellent key for the gel coat to remain with the boat. At this pint you can wait till it has gone mostly off (known as the "Green state") and scrape to remove excess, with a Stanley blade. This leaves you with a small amount of flattening with wet and dry followed by polishing.
Good luck, Tim