Repairing gel coat chips

I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate? Even the thinnest commerical
gel coat is made for spraying which makes it too runny
for filling small cometic chips. The only gel coat
paste fillers I have found are an off white in color.

I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate?

You can use white micro-balloons to thicken gelcoat. It won't polish out very
well, but it's white.
JJ Sinclair

Gary Evans wrote in message ...
I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate? Even the thinnest commerical
gel coat is made for spraying which makes it too runny
for filling small cometic chips. The only gel coat
paste fillers I have found are an off white in color.

You can take a small amount polester coating like Prestec (basically
gel coat)and over catlyze it at around 4%. Stir and watch it as it
thickens which may take around ten minutes depending on temperature.
When it gets to the viscosity you like, apply it to the roughed up and
well cleaned area. Prestec is about the whitest thing known to man so
if your gell coat has faded a bit you can add a minute amount of
yellow polyester dye. __Mike

"Gary Evans" wrote in message ...
I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate? Even the thinnest commerical
gel coat is made for spraying which makes it too runny
for filling small cometic chips. The only gel coat
paste fillers I have found are an off white in color.

Plastics shops sell colloidal silica filler, which you can mix in
the gel coat before adding the catalyst. It's white, and a whole
lot safer than microballoons, which can waft into your lungs
and do real nasty things.

"David Kinsell" wrote in message news:rC1gc.156346$K91.409573@attbi_s02...

"Gary Evans" wrote in message ...
I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate? Even the thinnest commerical
gel coat is made for spraying which makes it too runny
for filling small cometic chips. The only gel coat
paste fillers I have found are an off white in color.

Plastics shops sell colloidal silica filler, which you can mix in
the gel coat before adding the catalyst. It's white, and a whole
lot safer than microballoons, which can waft into your lungs
and do real nasty things.


If you get the West System filler, the 406 is pure white, but the 407
is a purple color.

Thanks David. I found the specs for 406 and see that
it is a colloidal silica thats to be added to regular
gel coat. They claim that it is off-white in color.
When mixed with gel coat does it color match an unweathered
glider finish and will it accept a polish?
Thanks!

At 16:36 24 April 2004, David Kinsell wrote:

'David Kinsell' wrote in message news:rC1gc.156346$K91.409573@att
bi_s02...

'Gary Evans' wrote in message .
uni-berlin.de...
I there a way to thicken gel coat other than letting
some of the solvent evaporate? Even the thinnest
commerical
gel coat is made for spraying which makes it too
runny
for filling small cometic chips. The only gel coat
paste fillers I have found are an off white in color.

Plastics shops sell colloidal silica filler, which
you can mix in
the gel coat before adding the catalyst. It's white,
and a whole
lot safer than microballoons, which can waft into
your lungs
and do real nasty things.


If you get the West System filler, the 406 is pure
white, but the 407
is a purple color.

"Gary Evans" wrote in message ...
Thanks David. I found the specs for 406 and see that
it is a colloidal silica thats to be added to regular
gel coat. They claim that it is off-white in color.
When mixed with gel coat does it color match an unweathered
glider finish and will it accept a polish?
Thanks!


The color is a very good white, I don't think most people would call it
off-white. I've never noticed any color change as a result of adding it.

As far as sanding ability goes, the label rates it as one of the highest-strength
fillers, but tougher to sand. The 403 is supposed to be the next grade
easier to sand. Then there's three low-density fillers that are easiest to
sand, but they're all colored. Chip-filling is easy to sand, so I'd expect you'd
be happy with the results from either the 403 or 406.

-Dave