We've got a customer boat with a decent gouge through the gelcoat into the glass, right below the waterline, and the owner wants it back in the water next week. Can we just fill it and antifoul over, or does it really need laminating back properly?
A gouge that has gone through the gelcoat into the glass is structural, and a cosmetic filler skim will not restore it, especially below the waterline where it sits under constant hydrostatic pressure. The proper approach is to grind the damage back to sound, dry laminate with a feathered taper, rebuild the glass with resin and reinforcement such as chopped strand mat, then fair and seal the surface before antifoul goes on. Trapping moisture behind a quick filler repair is exactly how you seed blistering and delamination later. The one thing that cannot be rushed is cure and dryness, so if the timescale is genuinely a week, be honest with the owner that a durable repair may need longer. Happy to talk through a suitable resin and reinforcement build for the specific damage if you send over the details.
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