Yamaha Hull Question

Has anyone had good results refinishing the bottom of their Yamaha SMC hull themselves? I run my ski in shallow bays and have numerous oyster shell scratches therough the paint to the base material. Nothing structural but I have heard marine tex then paint, gell coat, do nothing...etc. No, I can't avoid the shallows where I run so no advice needed there guys!

First, there is a belief among some that a rough hull runs faster than one which is perfectly smooth (I don't have an opinion although all my hulls always get scratched and don't run any slower or faster). SMC is painted with automative paint, not gel coat. Repairing it requires a special 'kit' which is available from all the manufacturers although I have seen it temporarily repaired with Marine Tex and it has held up for years so who knows. Unless there are deep gouges, why bother if they are just going to come back from the source?

Tom, thanks for takin the time to give me advice. Mike

After years of my abuse, the chines of my SJ hull were pretty worn down. First, I sanded the entire bottom with a 5' disc sander and 80 grit tp 150 tp remove all the paint and smooth out the deep gouges etc. I used PC-11 (like Marine Tex) on them by cutting a plastic squeegee into the shape I wanted and then laying a bead and dragging the squeegee back. This worked fairly well but I would probably try some sort of Bondo type material as I seemed to get a lot of gaps and valleys that later caused air bubbles. I then layed strips of 2' fiberglass tape the length of the hull, from the end to where the chine starts, switching to 4' in the valley (where your bunks go, I can't remember what that parts called) and then also build up the middle where the intake goes. I had air bubble problems but it worked out pretty good in the end. You can use and extra coating of epoxy as a 'flow coat' to fill in some of the bubble holes and then fill the small ones later with primer. It took a tremendous amount of sanding to blend the glass from the chines to the front of the hull, and to true the strakes. This was no easy job. Pick your primer carefully as if you ride like me, your paint will last one trip and primer is what you are going to see the most on the bottom. I really like the results though, It sticks much better in the turns and seems to ride farther out of the water (less drag) at top speed. I'm hitting rocks on the rideplate now instead of in front of the intake! There are a few pics on my amatuer website below: