Gel Coat Color Match

[Bob Cole]

I have some areas that need patching, chips etc. cosmetic only, on my 1987 E-34 but as we all know matching color is an art and very difficult. Has anyone located a source of gel
coat for our Ericsons that supplies our colors or a formula. Difficult question I know but one never knows until you ask.
Thanks,
Bob Cole

 

[MarkA]

Wow, good luck with that! I'm interested in hearing what you learn.

My hull has a definite bluish tint to some areas of the gelcoat--and I think those are the un-retouched areas. Yet the deck and house are much more of a milky white (whole milk, not 2 percent). I'm too afraid to even attempt color matching. Instead, I'm going to fill the nicks in the hull and paint it. Above deck, I don't think any patching is necessary--but someday I'll have to cross that bridge.

 

[exoduse35]

There is no way to match a color off the shelf. You will find that UV changes the color over time and the color is actually different on some parts of the boat where less sun has shown. Even if you had the stuff left over from your lay up, it would not match now. The best you can hope for is to get pretty close and either do as small an area as you can or do large areas and hide the seams. Edd

 

[Vagabond39]

It is by eye. Trial and error, and error, and error.:0

 

[tcooper]

Gel coat match

My last attempt I took a cookie I cut out to the local hardware store and had them color match. They gave me a very small quantity of tint in a jar and used that. Just used a tooth pick to match small amount of gel coat. The thing I learned is it can look perfect when wet but the color changes when it dries. There's the art, I have lots of respect for the people that can do it well. Need to make sure gel coat cures properly with tint used but the stuff I used worked fine.

Tom

 

[Vagabond39]

Getting an exact match is easy.
All you need to do is control the surface temperature for several days before and after,
Control the storage temperature of the components.
Control atmospheric pressure.
Control Humidity.
Mix the exact porportion of mix, hardener, and color, to within a few hundredths of a gram.
And the mixing time is also critical..
Stir until you can no longer move the stir rod and the color will be perfect.

 

[Maine Sail]

My last attempt I took a cookie I cut out to the local hardware store and had them color match. They gave me a very small quantity of tint in a jar and used that. Just used a tooth pick to match small amount of gel coat. The thing I learned is it can look perfect when wet but the color changes when it dries. There's the art, I have lots of respect for the people that can do it well. Need to make sure gel coat cures properly with tint used but the stuff I used worked fine.

Tom

Gelcoat tint and paint tint are two entirely different products.