Costly Metal Flake Repair

[chowder2016 110]

So my 257 got in a fight with a dock and the Black Metal Flake lost. I out a big scratch on her and it's absolutely killing me. 

Couple questions

1) is it possible to get it back to looking new

2) does anybody have a recommendation on a good place to take it in Northern California

3) any clue on how long it takes to repair?

the scratch is along the port side about 1/16 thick running about 2 feet long. 

?? bring on the jokes. Can't make me feel worse than I already do!

[h20king 794]

1 minute ago, chowder2016 said:

So my 257 got in a fight with a dock and the Black Metal Flake lost. I out a big scratch on her and it's absolutely killing me. 

Couple questions

1) is it possible to get it back to looking new

2) does anybody have a recommendation on a good place to take it in Northern California

3) any clue on how long it takes to repair?

the scratch is along the port side about 1/16 thick running about 2 feet long. 

?? bring on the jokes. Can't make me feel worse than I already do!

Only shop I have seen that can fix and match flake is NWBS. Give them a call I bet they can give you some recommendations 

[Cwazy1 89]

Rattle can that sh*t!

[chowder2016 110]

12 minutes ago, Cwazy1 said:

Rattle can that sh*t!

What's that?

[Bongo Fury 640]

There is a guy in Kelseville (Clear Lake ) that does gel work.  He is excellent.  Did a front end fix on my Falcon V from where it slammed into the sherriffs swim step after a tow.   Can't remember his name (Malcom?).  Travis from hillside would know.   This guy is the real deal.  Matched exactly with Centurion colors but we did not have flake on that boat.  I would also talk to your dealer.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Bongo Fury

[Chexi 35]

I am guessing that rattle can is spray paint?

[rhino89523 34]

I am not a metal flake master but I did have great luck getting huge scratches out of my gel coat. I bought a blue avalanche that had huge scratches in it at a massive discount, since the boat was an upgrade for me I thought I could deal with the scratches but after staring at it a while I really wanted them out. I did a test patch on the deepest scratch. These all looked white but they weren't past the gel even though I thought at first they were. They were all very deep. I took fine sand paper and sanded it a little, I forget where I started but I think about 400 grit, then went to 800 kept going till I was wet sanding with 2000 grit. Then hit it with the high speed buffer with a cut polish, then hit it with full wax. Came out perfect so I did the whole thing. Wife was freaking out when I was sanding on our new boat and the whole side looked like a meth head had a great idea....turned out perfect. As an added bonus I had to take off the huge avalanche stickers to get the scratches and I love the plain no big sticker look. 

I'd try a really really small area, might get lucky and just buff it out. 

Edited August 8, 2017 by rhino89523

[stoked 1,039]

I did a very similar thing on my then new 33. I took it to a dealer and they ordered the flake from fineline and did a pretty good repair job. I'm the only one that notices where they repaired because I know where the scratch was. The good thing is that insurance covers it, total bill was around 2500 for a 3ft long scratch. 

[Shaka 146]

7 hours ago, stoked said:

I did a very similar thing on my then new 33. I took it to a dealer and they ordered the flake from fineline and did a pretty good repair job. I'm the only one that notices where they repaired because I know where the scratch was. The good thing is that insurance covers it, total bill was around 2500 for a 3ft long scratch. 

Wait a minute....I talked to Fineline a couple of weeks ago about the gel coat I'd need for a repair. They told me that the flake is mixed with a clear coat and sprayed over the gel coat.  Come to think of it the parts guy that helped me never called me back with the color name.

[stoked 1,039]

I'm not certain of the inner workings of the actual repair, but I do know that they had to order the flake from fineline

[CO Surfer 289]

I never had any luck getting gel coat from Fineline for my boat.  I called my dealer.  He never called back.  I'll just have to figure it out myself this fall.

[stoked 1,039]

That sucks. I had a non-centurion dealer do the repair and they had no problem getting the flake from Fineline. It was pretty quick, less than 2 week turnaround.

[jester 111]

That sucks and your not going to like the answer.  Flake looks amazing but if it has to be fixed it sucks.  I am a person that can see all and I like things to be perfect.  Now with that being said it takes time.  To do it right they will have to take the whole panel down and build it back up.  This is because the flake is not mixed the same as it was the day it was in production from the factory.  Since boats are built from the outside working in you will have just a little bump on this panel since they are now working from the inside out.  Now for time really comes down to who does the repair.  Like Stoked said getting the Centurion is quick but working on it can take time.  With how big you are saying I would say a month from when you drop her off to pick up.  Might be quicker depending on how many other projects they are working on.

[Lost lake 0]

Chowder- Have you tried  Bethel Harbor?  Another option is Dennis Myers at Pure Audio. He has done gel coat repair for me without flake. 

[Getssum 10]

Heard good things about

Morrison Marine in Rancho Cordova

 

as well as someone in Tracy. Nor Cal Mastercraft gave me a reference but I wrote it down and lost it!

 

Good luck!

[Darkside 248]

Chowder, have you tried a buffer with some aggressive polish?  Mine had an issue similar to yours.  When mine hydrolocked, i was floating by the dam.  The dams have a protective bouy rope thing across to prevent people getting too close.  When i had no power, i drifted into these bouys, and as i got towed Away, it put a long scrape down the side of my black flake!  

I was pissed on so many levels...but hydrolock was simple repair, and gel buffed out! I was shocked, because this was a deep scrape 3-4 feet long!  I couldn't tell you where anymore, because literally came out perfect!