Gel Coat Damage Repair advice needed

That sounds horrible. Glad to hear no one was hurt. I'd search for a reputable gel coat shop nearby and get a professional opinion and price. If it's not that bad, then Spectrum offers premixed repair kits for a very reasonable price.

Once you get some pics up, people will be able to offer some better advice.

Pics of damage, not bad but it was perfect. The trailer stop poles were straight before the crash, the bumper pads covered in black carpet were 3inches higher on the poles before the crash, too bad they did not stay in place they could have protected the boat better.

Sorry I shrank the photo's and they still will not attach.

WOW, I better shut up, yours makes mine look fine. How did you post the pictures, I have done it before but it keeps telling me there is a problem with my source?
My insurance is $1,000 deductible so I am deciding to use it of fix it myself. Yours turned out great.

Glad no one was hurt. Use it the rest of summer & fix it in the fall. I personally could never get gel to color match, but maybe you can get a premix to work OK, since your boat was well cared for (not faded).

I pulled the bad prop, put a dial indicator on the shaft, run out was still at .0015, same as on install last January and will still turn with one finger so it is pretty straight.
The Guide poles used to be straight up and no curve in them prior to the crash. These photo's are before we floated the boat and returned it to the right place on the trailer.

Photo bucket worked thanks for the tip.

Since I'm assuming that insurance would pay for this I'd say you should take it to a good shop. Or, if you are not wanting to go with insurance, you could easily fix that yourself. Unlike Gary S I've had very good luck with color matching from Spectrum Color. They are a pretty penny, but worth it in my opinion. From those photos above it looks like you got through the first layer of gel down to the white, but no further. That's good news. Put on the new gel then sand, buff, wax and it will look good. Those stripes will have to be entirely replaced.

You may have some bent screws in the rub rail. My first attempt would be to remove inner rub rail (you have to start this from the back) to get access to the screws in the area. Remove the bent screws and replace with straight ones. I bet the rail would move back to the original flat look. Those marks will stay there on the rail, but besides you I would imagine nobody would ever notice.

Glad nobody was hurt and the damage is minimal.

how do you care for your trailer bunks? One member on here (name omitted) treated his with a silicone spray years ago and that slid his boat right off the back of the trailer and on to the dry part of the ramp. You have any kind of slick-maker that you put on your bunks to facilitate loading?

That's my only guess Moj.

I think the boat went way forward and then settled back down on the bunks... that's the only way that I can figure he scratched the bottom side of the boot stripe aft of the final resting place...   that boat traveled a long way, then slammed down onto the guide posts on the rebound.   keeping the boat in place would have required some down force at the front during a crash, so I imagine that some sort of turnbuckle or more solid strapping is needed? Didn't Hollywood have a post a while back about running the front winch strap under the bow stops to give some down force when trailering?   

The poles and what not, there's no internal rust is there? Because obviously that'll make them bend easily.

I worked out of town all week and I was not able to log on, left the password home, my mistake.
First, the actual crash was at 10 MPH + - 2 MPH in my estimate.
I know in less than 5 feet more I would have been at a dead stop with no contact. Second, the brakes on the X5 are huge as are the tires and I was pushing the brake as hard as I could, the X5 tires were howling even with anti lock functioning and so were the trailer tires so it was stopping fast from 45 mph.
I think the car and truck brakes were enough to start moving the boat on the trailer. The bunks were wet but never waxed or any other procedure to make them slick but I have only owned this boat since December this year. Previous boats, put 1,500 hours on our first Nautique, 800 Hours on our Malibu then bought this one in December with 100 hours on the meter.

The X5 has a full plastic front end, the Tahoe had a receiver in the hitch at the time of the accident and the receiver punched a hole through the plastic but hit no metal. The headlights were not touched, the bumper, hood and fenders look great from 5 feet but close inspection shows the hit. No airbags blew. It was a minor hit.
This trailer is slick, the first time pulling it out of the water I noticed the boat slipping back and had to back in and strap it firm to keep it on the trailer while pulling out. My old Nautique on a Nautique trailer never did this, My wife would idle onto the trailer and I would drive up the ramp never leaving the truck. We must have launched that boat 5-600 times in 1,500 hours use. We would hook it to the trailer when we parked to dry the boat off and unload.
It did this with the OEM bunks and the new bunks and carpet I installed after 8 years abuse.
The poles on this new nautique are not rusted at all but are bent now, this boat was a garage queen, no rust, no fade.
The poles on the front had a quick release set up so they could tilt forward to install a boat cover while on the trailer. This system rattled while trailering and I had pulled the lock pin and replaced it with a 5/8 x 5 inch grade 5 bolt which held and did not bend. This bolt eliminated some trailer noise while moving.
The carpeted boards on the poles slipped down as the boat slid back down onto the trailer, you can see the paint scratches on the poles, it looks like the boards slipped down 3-4 inches from the stock height.
I patched a small gel coat chip in my old Nautique but this one involves 2 colors and I am afraid to mess up a nice boat. I am leaning towards a shop for this repair and I do most repairs at home normally.

When I started this thread I was really upset to have hurt this boat. I looked for a year to find the right one to buy, while still suffering in our Malibu. It was actually a very impressive ski boat but drove terrible, glad to have a Nautique again.
We did get off very easy, it could have been worse.
The trailer did fail but the boat shop I visited yesterday to look at the damage told me he has seen accidents with wet bunks where the boat went right over the trailer and into the car in front so we did get off easy. I will find a way to add a stop on the front of this trailer for added protection and the new rear tie down straps will be stronger for sure. I think if I keep it from starting to move it will not have the momentum to bend the poles and come over the top again.
I am also thinking of heavier wall poles for the front boat stop, since the original poles are no where near strong enough.
The trailer is a DHM and of course they are out of business.

On this trailer the winch comes off when I pull the removable hitch off the front. I have a couple idea's but have taken no action yet.

Estimate came in at 3,600 not counting the trailer repair. The good news it still drives great, I put the 4 blade OJ back on for the boat test. I liked the now bent Acme 224 much better, it was smoother with less noise and pulled harder than the 4 blade OJ 14 x 16.

PS: maybe overkill but I added tie downs from my car hauler for this boat trip. Strapped the back and front with the heavy tie downs.
I think they are rated at 10-15,000 pounds each.
Not permanent but at least I knew it would stay put on this trip and until I fix the trailer.
If I had something similar before the wreck the boat would have had zero damage.

Turnbuckle or winch strap to the front, and a chain or flat bar to the back (or even another turnbuckle). All that "v chain" concept sounds loud and sloppy. The keel pad on your trailer also hurt you, pushing the boat up instead of just dead forward.

Older MC trailers and Sanger trailers I have seen have the flat bar. It is usually laying down not in use!