Gel coat repair, worth it?

[Jack_and_MLE]

Hello all

The tunnel cover on my Caterham 21 needs some tlc.

So I removed the 20 year old vinyl cover and foam to find the gelcoat of the GRP cover with lots of cracks.

The cracks have appeared because is seems the GRP underneath has started to be "flexible".

I'm planing to reinforced the tunnel cover with a layer of woven fibre, however as the cover will be cover with a layer of foam and vinyl is it worth mending the cracks and if yes what would you use?

Thanks for the answers

Jack

[mikeveal]

No, I wouldn't bother.
The gel coat's job is two fold
1/ provide waterproofing. Without it, the fibreglass is pourous.
&
2/ To look good.

Doesn't sound like you need either of these.

If you were going to repair it, you'd use top coat from someone like Cornish Fibreglass supplies. It's gel coat with wax added. Dig out the cracks, fill and sand.

Not worth the effort.

[Jack_and_MLE]

Cheers

Thanks you, I might just try it as a training exercise. As it will be hidden it won't matter too much about the aesthetic.

Jack

[eliot]

I fixed a 50p sized void that opened up on my dakar body - someone on another forum who specialises in boat repairs sent me some gel and fixer and i did it myself.
Essentially it's like coloured expoxy resin, plenty of guides online showing how to use it.

[gtmdriver]

If you're going to scrape out and fill the cracks in the gel coat then I suggest that you use gel coat filler. This is a thicker version of gel coat resin which can be applied and sanded like filler but sets to the same hardness and texture as the original gel coat. It is available from EC fibreglass.

Flow coat, with the wax additive, is really meant as a brush-on final coating.

[Jack_and_MLE]

Cheers All

I have ordered the parts!

Jack

[Jack_and_MLE]

Hi All

Did the job at the weekend and it went well.

I also did the modification on my airbox.
Is there a guide on the number of layers required to achieve a good structural strength?

I was thinking of maybe three layer for the air box, would that be enough?

Cheers

Jack