[Ed]

Almost forgot about your question regarding gelcoat.

Nine times out of ten, oem gelcoat from the the boat manufacturer that is supposed to match one's boat will need to be tinted, because of the fading affects that uva rays have on gelcoat. With this said, using the oem gelcoat for your boat is a good place to start.

When trying to match your boats particular gelcoat....make up 3-4 small samples of gelcoat (dont add the catalyst yet) with various combinations of tint and hold them up next to the area you are repairing. Then select the one that is closest and keep repeating the tint process until it matches. It is a tedious process but once you get familiar with the effects of the various tints it should make sense.

Spectrum's tint kit has some pretty good instructions in it as far as which color tint to add etc.

Just remember that gelcoat can fade differently....so the gelcoat on ythe topsides of your boat may not match your hull gelcoat 100%

-Ed-