Nick and dent filler

[Flatiron]

I just purchased my first Hydroplane and I'm looking forward to making it look new over the winter months. It has some nicks and chips from normal use. Some staples have also worked loose. So I know when I tap them back in I will have some low spots. My question is what would be a good filler ?

[Black Sheep]

Peanut Butter! I personally like the silica powder. More builders should watch this video...
See video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GITtvAp20pg

J-Dub

[Shane_B]

ya beat me to it!

[Shane_B]

Can use West System epoxy thickened with West System #406 Colloidal Silica (or System 3 epoxy and comparable thickener) - they don't shrink. Of course can use Plastic Wood and after its dry and sanded, seal with either epoxy or varnish (depending on what finish your boat has).

[ZUL8TR]

Depends on what final finish you want. If final is a color coat above noted fillers work well. If a clear wood varnished look silica fillers will not look good they dry off white depending on the amount of silica filler used to thicken. Show us pics of what you are working with and tell us what final coating you want to use.

[Ram4x4]

Mike, you said you're painting so check out the West Systems videos on their site and the various filler types they offer. For small areas you could get away with bondo type fillers, but you can achieve similar results with the epoxy additives, which would be a better choice.

I've been on some painting forums since I'm planning to do my boat at some point and the "pros" unanimously recommend priming the entire thing with a 2-part epoxy primer (have a shop spray this stuff as it's deadly if inhaled).

As for paint, you can go base/clear coat (if you really want the shine), or go with a single stage (can still get decent shine with some color sanding and buffing, but not as good as base/clear). Just keep in mind most of the base/clear paint systems are about three to four times the price of single stage stuff from the pricing I've checked out.

[Brian10s]

A wise old DSR driver named Steve Smith once said "You don't race the tops". And another wise old runabout driver, Jeff Williams, loves to tell me that "It's not a custom car show". My point with all these old Runabout driver quotes - do not get too caught up on making your "Race boats" perfectly pretty. They are meant for racing and if you are doing it right, they will get some "rubbin" and "bangin" from time to time.

In fact, every boat that I have ever painted or refinished has gotten a ding the first race. Either I drop a screwdriver or wrench on the deck or one of my "buddies" puts a racing stripe down the sponson. One even got attached by an EZup my Mom was setting up when the wind got ahold of it.

[Ram4x4]

And as Wesley Snipes said in "White Men Can't Jump"...."It doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you look good"

No, we don't race on the top (well, some try occasionally) but it's kind of an American culture thing...you want your ride to look nice. Besides, when tooling down the road with her on the open trailer I don't want all those potential new drivers out there looking at my rig and thinking "who drives a POS like that?"...

For the amount of paint involved, it's not that big a deal really.

[krazy karl]

I usually tried to make it look good for the first race of the season. Then the nicks, scrapes etc start usually while setting up. I usually drop a wrench or somthing on the deck.