Patching A Hole In The Fiberglass

[markcr]

Hi, I just bought an 05 Outback and the previous owner had installed a few extra gadgets on the tower. He drilled holes through the fiberglass near the rad-a-cage mount to run the wiring from the battery up to the tower. I have removed this stuff and was wondering if anyone knows a good way to patch the remaining holes. They are about 3/16ths or a 1/4 inch in diameter.

[Razzman]

Other than a DIY fiberglass repair kit you'll need to take it to someone who specializes in repairing boat fiberglass and gelcoat, that is if you want it looking like new and unseen.

[PatL]

I am currently fixing a few issues on my 05 Outback. Would recommend contacting Spectrum who was the gel coat supplier for Moomba in the 05 timeframe. They sold me a really slick repair kit for less than the typical repair kits you might find at West Marine etc. I don't have their number anymore but if you contact Moomba they should be able to provide it (That's how I got it). Also, I have the platinum base gel coat and they were able to provide me the exact gel coat tint which helped me avoid trying to match things up.

[dusty2221]

Depending on how in sight it is, go to Home Depot and pick up a tube of Aquamend. It's a fiberglass repair putty that you mix with your fingers, press in the holes, razor it smooth and let it cure. It dries hard in an hour to a cream color. A few of us on the Supra forum have had very good luck with it.

If the color is off, you could find some fingernail polish and touch it up afterwards.

[kaneboats]

If you need white, there's a kit you can get at Boat US that works pretty doggone good and easy to use. I used it on the Outback for my scratches and dings from beaching.

[markcr]

Thanks for all the good information. The situation I'm dealing with is that I removed the wakeboard tower and mounts from my Outback. Now I have about 20, 5/16th size holes that are cleanly drilled through the hull where I removed the mounting hardware. The simplest thing to do is put the damn mounting hardware back on and be good with it. However, if it isn't too big a deal, I'd like to plug those holes for a cleaner look. I might look into using the Aquamend product that was mentioned then do a final gelcoat touch up with a kit from Spectrum.

[kaneboats]

Take your time and do it right. In the meantime, you can get little plugs in several different colors at Home Depot in the hardware drawers. I used white ones one time to plug some old bimini top holes in the top of the gelcoat on my Sunbird. They were practically invisible and set me back about $2.

[PatL]

Mark, Bonus...found the spectrum # 1800 754-5516. They were very helpful when I contacted them v/r, Pat

[markcr]

Thanks, Pat!

[jmvotto]

I used spectrum color as well. they have all the gel coat repair kits for lots of oem's and they specify the exact boat, color and year. i used it last summer because the Jack A$$ kid at the gas pump was more interested in his texting than watching the boat and tying an "Eagle Scout" knot. i got a couple dings while i was in the store.:mad:

The website was up a while ago, but it should be about 40 bucks. as kane states it does take patience, do it when you have some time.

My dealer actually suggested them as they use them as well.

www.spectrumcolor.com

[markcr]

Yep, I contacted Spectrum Color and ordered Moomba/Supra White kit number #F55-11000. In the meantime I went down to Home Depot and picked up some of that Aquamend that someone else had suggested. I figured I'd give that a try first. That stuff is amazingly cool and really easy to use! I did a few test holes with the Aquamend and they came out great. On one of the front tower mount fittings, whoever installed it drilled the holes about 1/2 inch off. When I took the fitting off, I had two sets of 4 holes. Nice... The extra set of holes made a good test bed. After all, if this gets to be way too much work, I can always just keep the tower mount fittings on the boat.

Since the Aquamend worked out so well, my new plan is to fill the holes with it, sand them down a bit, then finish off with Spectrum Color gelcoat. I could just leave the Aquamend patches as is but the color match isn't exact and I'd really like the boat to look like new. Thanks for all the help, gang!