Gel Coat Issue?

T

TerryM

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exMember
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Nov 1, 2007
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28898
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I am having an issue with the gel coat rails running forward from the swim platform getting large dis-colored spots. There are spots on both sides. The boat is a 2007 and I've waxed it at least twice per year. The rest of the hull shows no signs of any problems.

I've tried rubbing compound and then wax. This process improves it slightly but after a couple of days it looks the same. The rails were last waxed in May.

It doesn't appear to be getting worse.

Any ideas on causes?

If I have the rails painted how much trouble will there be matching the hull color (AwlGrip Flag Blue)?

Thanks, Terry
 
Just me, but I would never consider painting a 2007 boat. Call the manufacturer and ask for support. What kind of warranty is left?
 
I have an email into Tiara to ask them about the issue and if it covered under warranty.
 
Terry, please update when you get an answer... I'll be interested to see how that turns out. Have you heard of this happening at all on other Tiaras?
 
It looks like the gel coat has been has been rubbed through. I think the light spots are actually the underlying fiberglass showing through.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Robbins29

It looks like the gel coat has been has been rubbed through. I think the light spots are actually the underlying fiberglass showing through.

Click to expand...


x2,

Did someone get over aggressive with a buffer?

Absolute,

"Suckin Sludge & Havin a Gas"
 
Terry - Sorry to hi-jack temporarily...If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about your boat. Can you email me at "jroot213 at gmail dot com"?

Thanks!
 
Did you buy the boat new from Tiara. They are a stand-up company and if it's any kind of manufacturing defect I'm sure they would take care of it.
 
I didn't buy new for Tiara but I did pay to transfer the warranty. Tiara has been outstanding when they've helped me with other issues. I'm sure they'll stand behind their product if it's their issue.
 
No problem with algrip, it should last much better than gelcoat. Gelcoat in Florida is a pain in just a couple of years it will start to get chalky and dark colors are even worse.

Cor
 
I talked to repair guy today. He believes the rails had imperfections when they came out of mold. Tiara fixed the imperfections and finished with gel coat. The problem is that the new gel coat doesn't age as well as the original molded gel coat. In addition, the rails face up into the sun. So new gel coat plus Florida sun equals ugly.

Repair person wants to paint instead of new gel coat. He believes it will look better longer. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

I'm going to the Ft Lauderdale Boat Show and will continue my discussions with Tiara and see what they say about the warranty.
 
We had a problem with a 1' by 2' section of dark blue hull that looked faded (not as bad as your pic though, just slightly faded). I thought it was a missed area when waxing. I polished and waxed the area but little improvement, then contacted the dealer (MarineMax Clearwater), they took a look and thought is was a gel repair problem...but claimed they had not done any repair work. MM contacted SeaRay and the factory had no record of any gel coat repair. They realized I hadn't had any gel coat repair, so it must have happened at the factory. Anyway, SeaRay & MarineMax stepped up and removed the affected gel coat and replaced with a new coat. MarineMax (Matt) got a perfect color match and I couldn't see any difference knowing where the repair was!!

I know Tiara is a well respected builder. This certainly looks like a factory flaw and Tiara should step up and replace the gel coat.
 
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