repairing a fiberglass gouge

[Hart_family]

Got a nice 4-1/2 inch gouge in my fiberglass today (see photo). Neighbors are suggesting a marine boat repair or auto-body place. Sounds expensive, so I wondered about a DIY repair. Any suggestions for a kit or process? I am NOT handy, but with RVs I need to learn. Just looking for thoughts/ideas...

Also, what about the gel coat?

[franktafl]

Fortunately, it looks like it’s just in the gel coat. If you are careful you can probably fix it with a gelcoat repair kit from west marine or someplace like that. Doing it so it can’t be seen is a job for a professional. How good you are with matching colors and sanding down the area prepping for the repair will determine how it looks after the repair.

You can always bring it to a pro if you don’t like the job you did trying to do it yourself…

[Ovalvw]

Frank nailed it west marine has kits for that and with all the info on YouTube on small fiberglass repair . In the end if you don’t like it there is always the jet ski/ body shop having friends that own body shops that would not cost much.

[Hart_family]

Thank you both. I am no gelcoat expert, but I believe this is deeper than just the gelcoat. It seesm to be 1/8" deep at its deepest point.

A local body shop that does fiberglass work quoted me $2,000 today.

[franktafl]

I looked again at the picture, the deepest spot seems to be at the top but I don't see any fiberglass strands and the area is small enough that I don't think the integrity of the structure would be affected.

I have owned boat where I would scratch the bottom on something that was floating in the water. I sanded it a bit to take off the rough edges and patched with a kit from West which I could mix the colors included in the kit to get the closest match to the color of the existing gel coat. It would take you an hour or two to patch that but well worth your time. The biggest issue would be if you didn't get it perfect and you had to look at it.

If that bothers you then pay the 2k to get it professionally done... but they probably would not guarantee that it would not be visible also (brighter color, more shine, less shine, etc).

try this one...

https://www.amazon.com/FIBRE-GLASS-E...53461478&psc=1

[Hart_family]

Thanks so much again. I didn't see any "fibers" either. The inside looks like a white chalky substance (similar to drywall). I know I have Azdel in there instead of wood, so not sure what I'm even looking at.

I have decided to use a local friendly mobile RV tech to help me make the best repair possible, and we are going to add a decal that matches the others nearby and it will never be seen or talked about again.

What I didn't share at the beginning is that the gouge is because I backed my trailer just barely into fence post that was too close, which ripped out the awning arms....the gouge was created by one of the awning arm screws that tracked along my wall for 4+ inches. The RV tech will help me reattach the awning arm too.

[T-town]

" I backed my trailer just barely into fence post that was too close".........

just like..... "I had to swerve several times before the tree hit my car"......

Never fun backing into anything! Good luck with the repair.