Gelcoat Repair
 

Well as many of you know, I just recently acquired a very nice (or so I thought) z250 LE.

We had it out on Wednesday, and the day started off terribly. Getting to the dock where the boat is taken after being launched from stack storage, we find that one of our nice fenders (with matching yellow rope) is missing/gone, and the way they parked the boat at the convenience dock, the boat as rubbing up on a metal post for an hour or so, completely ruining two of the little squares in our checkered flag decal. The fender with the cover is about $75.00, and the decals need to be replaced in that area. 2 weeks into ownership, and already a stolen fender/line, and a damaged decal on the side.

That wasn't the biggest issue from Wednesday however: When we came back in from the water, we waited for the stack storage employees to pull the boat out, so we can pull the plug and empty the water from the boat. The type of trailer they use to pull the boat out is very simple with just two beams on the bottom, so you can see a lot more of the underside of the boat then when our boat is sitting on the Prestige trailer that it came with.

He pulls the boat out, and first thing we notice is that the very bottom of the boat (on both sides of the hull) has about 8' long streaks of white lines/scratches, turning blackish/brownish towards the aft of the boat. The reason the streaks are white is because the owner has white plastic slides on all of the bunks on the trailer. I am assuming the blackish/brownish marks are the gelcoat wearing away and showing fiberglass possibly? As you run your fingers over the scratches and the brownish/blackish areas, you can feel slight grooves coming out (not in) from the boat.

Another issue is where the fender of the trailer contacts the boat, on the driverside, is about a 8"x1" long chipped area of gelcoat, where it looks like something dug into that area pretty hard. I know that the previous owner of the boat used to "power-on" the boat onto the trailer, so from my research, I'm seeing that this is the reason for the long streaks from the plastic slides. I am assuming he powered it on a few times without them being fully wet and thus creating the "rash".

Anyways, I'm pretty bummed out. Do you guys think that the boat is still usable, or are these issues that need to be address immediately?

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures when the boat was on the tractor trailer to go back into storage.

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

If you're going to let the boat stay in the water then i would suggest getting the gel-coat repairs done asap. There are a couple of good "How To's" in the "Projects & Add-ons" section to help you out..

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

The boat never sits in the water for more than 2-3 hours. It's stored indoors in a stack-storage facility. I simply have it launched and retrieved whenever I want to use it. My in-laws are coming in town in 2 weeks, and we want to at least know that we can lightly use the boat when they are in town.

I'm very good with sanding/buffing/polishing, etc, but the main problem with doing it myself is getting the boat off the trailer. I'm not really comfortable putting it on blocks of wood in my driveway or anywhere else. A gelcoat repair place I called said that it's about 3 hours of labor for them to get the boat off the trailer (@$80/hour).

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

I would pay $500 for someone to come put my boat on stands and then come put it back on my trailer without question. Matter of fact I would love for someone to come do this at my house this winter so I can finish repairing all the chips and the bottom of mine that someone did crappy job repairing before I bought it. If you can't see fiberglass, and there is no cracking around the bubbles you describe, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I did have water being forced in through the crappy repairs the people before me did. After my repair was done, the boat now is almost completely dry when I pulled the plug unless we are doing a lot of in and out of the boat tubing swimming and wakeboarding, dumping a bunch of water on the sun pad and thereby in to the bilge. So the question is when you pulled the plug, how much water came out? And how much water did you bring into the boat from: swimming etc.
However, I am with you I want my boat to be as nice as possible and scratches on the bottom just ain't going to cut it. And especially on a nice boat like yours! I also would be having a conversation with the dry dock company as they left my boat tied up to a metal post without a bumper. If that is how they treat my boat and don't care enough 2 handle my boat correctly, I believe I would be finding a new dry dock facility that will!

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Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

When we pulled the plug, a lot of water came out. We are assuming this was because the boat was pulled out on a launch ramp, and thus the angle forced every last drop of water to come out. Normally when we pull the plug, it was sitting on a level surface, so it seems like maybe there was always a little bit of water that didn't come out, and by it being at a big incline, it finally all came out. The plug wasn't pulled in 2 boating trips, about 2 hours long each.

Come to think of it, it was very wave the last 2 days on the lakes. I had tons of water splashing on me just driving the boat, and I also had to do some abrupt stops, which would cause water to really go over the transom. I'm sure that is where lots of the water came from as well.

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

When you say a lot are we talking gallons and gallons? I have a 20 ft Shabah 99 model and I have never ever had water come all the way over the transom and up over the sunpad and end up in the bilge. It would take some serious loading in the stern to even get it that low in the water. I have 4kids and generally 6 to 8 people on the boat including the kids, and after a full day of in and out in and out of the water I may have 1/2 -1 gallon of water come out but mostly it's a 1/4 gallon or so. Last year with it forcing water thru the global at bad repair spots (and trust me.they were small cracks) I would have 2 gallons or so come out. It was a lot to me. This year, if no one goes swimming no water comes out at all. It did not cause an issue last year normally keep us from using the boat but I am glad I found it over the winter while fixing the spots on the bottom. It doesn't sound like your issues major and should be easily repairable but I would inspect any questionable spots carefully. If u can push on the hull around a hairline crack you see and a drop of water comes out then it is putting water in the hull and will eventually eliminate the fiberglass. The point is to catch it early and fix it. I had another.post where I showed a.picture of what I found underneath some soft repair epoxy and a tiny little crack that I noticed was still wet after a month out of the water....

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Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

Here's my old.post
http://www.mariahownersclub.com/foru...ead.php?t=9180

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Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

You should post some pics for us, so we can help determine the severity of the gelcoat damage, and if it's something you could tackle, or something that should be professionally refinished.

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

I know it's something I can tackle, but the problem is that all of the damaged areas are hidden by the trailer bunks, and I have no way to get the boat off the trailer. It will be done professionally the 2nd week of July, already made arrangements :)

Re: Gelcoat Repair
 

Ended up having the whole bottom-side of the boat completely redone. Had Jim at Phoenix Fiberglass take care of it, and he did an amazing job with the yellow gelcoat. Also fixed up my trailer, it had a few cracks that had to get braced, and re-painted. Boat has never been in better shape, and ready for many years of good times to come :)

First time back out on it yesterday after a long waiting period getting the fiberglass/gelcoat repaired:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4wmIjUFiFM