I am trying to do cosmetic repairs on our teams 1992 Hydrodyne twin rig. Does anyone know who supplied the gelcoat to Hydrodyne when the boat was made, and is it possible to get those gelcoat colors now? I got three pint cans of old gelcoat from a local repair shop, two cans dates 1995. and one can dated 1994. Two cans were made by Polydyne, they have been bought out by Ashland Chemical. The other can was made by Lilly. Our Hydrodyne is white, and green stripes. One of the cans i got is labeled "emerald" and it could be a match, but i do not know, the gelcoat has seperated, and hardned, and cannot be mixed up again. The white is not a close match. The white is going to be hard to match. If you have ever tried to match whites in gelcoat, or paints, you know there are many, many colors of "White"
i bought my gelcoat from a company in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I don't specifically remember the name, but performance or precision plastics, i think it was called. It cost me $250.00 CAD for 2 1/2 gallons of gelcoat. They had a whole palet i could choose from.
Check with Tom Miller. His contact information is under the Miller boat section. He will know the answer to your questions. jim
Thanks for the replies so far. The boat in question has the THI prefix on tthe HIN. I believe this make it an Ab Crosby boat. Would Tom Miller still know about this boat?
I did call Tom Miller. He thinks is is going to be very hard to get "factory" gelcoat for the boat. His recommendation is to cut a sample out of the boat and send it to a gelcoat company for them to color match the gelcoat on the boat. He also said "white is white" I went to Home Depot, and Lowes, to see if I could find any paint samples that would match, no luck with that. There is a company on the West coast, called Tap Plastics, that sells fiberglass, gelcoats, and lots of other plastic stuff. I got a pint of their generic neutral colored gelcoat, and threw some of their green pigment into it, and it is the closest match to the green on the boat I have found so far. Very slightly too light, I added a very small amount of their black pigment to the mix, and it is very slightly too dark. I am going to recheck the Lilly (manufacturer) white and see if it matches the boat.
You know, I used Emeron, Imeron (I can never remember how it is spelled) and I think Mark did also. It is an extreamly hard paint, takes the daily abuse of a ski boat without scratching or flaking. That might be an option. Daniel
I know I could use Dupont Imron paint. It is a very good paint, and it is used a lot in the aircraft industry. My first boat I refinished with Dupont Centari clear coat, and it turned out very well, and it was a good finish. I like the gelcoat for a couple of reasons. It is not near as toxic, and you do not really need a spray booth to apply it. It is its own filler, if a small area is a very little low, you can just put the gelcoat in that area, or just fill the scratch with it. You can buff it much easier, the thickness of the gelcoat is much more forgiving.. The Hydrodyne I am working on was painted on the front half, and now I have to deal with a few minor adhesion problems where I removed the pinstripe, and primer is now showing where the repairs were featheredged. For an overall refinish, I would probably paint. For the repairs of chips in the gelcoat, and other minor damage, I prefer the gelcoat. The sanding will take longer than painting it, but I am not in a repair shop trying to beat a flat rate. Gelcoat will also allow me to repair a small area at a time, and keep the boat in service, with out the time required to lay it up, while the whole boat is prepped for paint.
