Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

[thrillhouse700]

Ok so we have a few holes in the hull that go through the gelcoat but seem to stop there. What would you smart fellas here suggest? Sand down gelcoat around and build the gelcoat back up? Or do I need to put any mat in these?

Most likely after we get the transom in and the cap popped we will flip the boat over and work on these. OOOOR should we get the stringer in first for rigidity?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

The chips and scuffs can be filled with gel coat and sanded down, that crack needs to repaired with glass. Add some extra glass to it from the inside and then just do more of a cosmetic repair on the outside.

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

I was always told to drill a small hole at each end of the crack, to stop it spreading...is this true or an old wive's tale?

 

[thrillhouse700]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

I was told that too, I wonder if its the same for fiberglass?

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

Yes and no.

It may help to stop any further cracking, but you should be grinding them out completely anyhow, so drilling wouldn't be needed.

 

[thrillhouse700]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

Ok so whats the proper way to fix the crack?

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

The first and last pics look like they were bubbles in the original gelcoat layup that cracked and came off. They'd just need cleanout and to make sure there's no water in there, then re-gelcoat.

The second pic is some kind of gouge or damage, and it looks like the glass underneath is ok.. if there are no loose fibers, just clean it out and re-gelcoat. If the glass underneath is damaged, then grind down to remove loose fibers, possibly patch with a small amount of cloth and resin, then fair and re-gelcoat.

The cracks (pic three) are slightly a bigger problem. Hairline cracks like that develop due to flexing of the glass underneath. If you don't find the cause of the flexing (it may have been a one time event in the past, like a crash or really hard waves) and correct it then the cracks will probably come back later. If they're from a one time event then you can re-gelcoat after cleaning them out (grind carefully to widen the cracks and to give the new gelcoat a mechanical bond).

If they're from the wood supports underneath flexing or being rotten, you need to fix those first, then re-gelcoat.

Erik

 

[thrillhouse700]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

Yeah, we are in the process of doing the deck, stringer and transom. More than likely that was the cause of the crack since they were fairly rotten. Once we get the transom in and cap off we will flip it over and fix all those.

 

[Lightnig]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

the only reason I drilled out the holes in my hull crack is that the ends were clearly visible from the outside, but could hardly see the crack at all inside. After drilling the ends I could easily see where (and almost as importantly - how deep) to grind to perform the repair.

Now, the inside is completely repaired and built up, and outside it is just below flush so that I can fill with epoxy and fair flush with the original hull without having to give the outside any real build up.

 

[robbankston]

Re: Sweeeeet!!!! How do I repair this?

If the glass looks good I'd just repair the gel coat....