Gelcoat repair weeping

[charlg]

I had a gouge on the bottom of the boat and thanks to some good posts, I ordered the exact match from Spectrum. I made the repair (not perfect, but good), but when I looked at it after the boat came out of the water, it was weeping in that spot. I did not seal the repair with wax (which I have since done). Did it weep because it was not sealed, or did the water penetrate the fiberglass?

 

[RobF300]

wax has nothing to do with your seepage.


are you sure the boat was dry when you repaired it?
maybe there was a little water trapped in the laminates?

 

[charlg]

It seemed dry, but what do I do if water was trapped in there? Will it dry out on it's own?

 

[STIHLBOLTS]

You may want to get that professionally looked at. :smt017 Water won't just dry up buy itself from my experiance. Close it up and it will rot everything around it. :smt009

If Rob see's this he might be able to offer some advice. :thumbsup:

 

[dc380]

In my experience there are few things that could cause this.
Moisture as previously mentioned:
Not allowing the gelcoat to cure, before putting it back in the water.
Not putting enough harder in the gelcoat mix. So it never cured.

A moisture meter can tell you if there is moisture in the gelcoat.
If it's a small area, a hair dryer can be used to dry it. But be careful not it get the surrounding gelcoat too hot. Patience is key here.
The boat should have been high and dry for a while before attempting this repair.

It's takes at least 24 hours for gelcoat to cure.

An easy way to see if the gelcoat has cured is to wet sand it, it should be hard, and sand to a powder. If it's sticky or gums up the sandpaper, it hasn't cured.

Cover the gelcoat with wax paper of a spray on wax, basically you want to rob the gelcoat of air. I prefer using liquid wax, as it doesn't smear the gelcoat.