I a have no knowledge of this product, are you certain it was gel coat and not Jello Coat.

I've used the Spectrum Gel Coat (2 part) last year. I'm no expert and was satisfied with the results repairing hull dings. The color was a reasonable match. I used a heat gun as recommended to help it set-up. Sanded the repair down to 600 grit and then used compound. I used glint reflection to compare it with the surrounding surface, to asses the color variation and how much to keep sanding. The glint reflection idea was from my high school summer job when I fine and polished eyeglass lenses at Peerless Optical, Providence, RI. Leave the repair high, it does shrink and will go concave as I learned. Use it in one season, no shelf life.

John,

I too did some gel coat repair last year on my boat as written up here on the forum. I used a standard two part gel coat. West Marine sells an 8 or ten ounce kit with primary pigments but, I found it cheaper to purchase a quart and the needed tint pigments from Tap Plastics. Not sure of any short shelf life issues.

Can you expand on this " glint reflection technique" ?

[quote=Wally-1840;13411]Hi everybody, I was wondering if anyone had experience with the gel coat that Catalina Direct sells.

It appears to be a non-catalyzed product that the description says has no shelf life. Does it cure up properly?

I've had some experience in the past with another brand that never hardened, it just remained rubbery.

Thanks!
Wally[/quote]

Wally, you didn't happen to be putting that over some Interlux Watertite or any other epoxy? Because gelcoat won't set up over epoxy it just goes rubbery. A while back I put 3 different kinds of gelcoat over a Watertite patch and all of them would only go rubbery. The Spectrum people told me that was the problem and they were right.

What I've done to fill screw holes is I drill it out a tiny bit to clean it up then I just fill the hole with gelcoat. Sometimes you have to poke the gelcoat in with a toothpick if the hole is very small and the gelcoat is a bit thick but it works.

There's two different polyester gelcoats, one contains paraffin the other doesn't, one has to be covered with plastic to cure the other doesn't, can't remember which is which now but it is important. I just cover it all with plastic if I can and that makes the finishing job easier as well.

If there's a boat building shop in your area you should go and talk to them about it. There's a guy here builds canoes and industrial molds and he is very generous with his advice and materials. He sells me resins of all kinds and catalyst from his bulk stock into containers I bring as well as giving me all kinds of off cuts of glass cloth and mat for peanuts. A very good resource to have around.