Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

[stephentyler20]

Hi guys - been a while since I've posted on here! I've messed around with a couple small fiberglass projects in the past, but never repairs. I'm hoping in the next few weeks while I have some time I can make this better.

I was forced to dock my 21' Cuddy bow into a dock for the past few summers. Despite numerous attempts using buoys and cushions trying to soften the blows, inevitably the boat ran up against the dock, and wore away at the glass. It got... pretty bad. I'm annoyed to say the least.

Below are photos of the damage... From what I can tell there's two areas of damage. First, the area UNDER the bow eye has some erosion down to the fiberglass. From what I gather, I should be able just to grind this away, lay up some glass on this, add some filler and paint or gelcoat.

The area I'm worried about is the bow eye. What happened is, the eye itself took a lot of trauma, bouncing off the dock with the weight of the boat. As a result, it widened out the holes that it sits in. I don't really know how to approach fixing this... For starters, I am definitely going to add a hardwood backing on the inside that I can bolt this into, and fiberglass that in. Should I also grind out the whole area, and make a new surface that I can drill new holes into?

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Basically make the area with the holes new again and start over.

Grind the area you're going to install the new backer to, then fill the holes with PB and do a couple layups of whatever you're going to glass in the new backer with... then install the new backer with PB and glass it in. Drill new holes after everything is cured out and reinstall the eye.

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Basically make the area with the holes new again and start over.

Grind the area you're going to install the new backer to, then fill the holes with PB and do a couple layups of whatever you're going to glass in the new backer with... then install the new backer with PB and glass it in. Drill new holes after everything is cured out and reinstall the eye.

Thanks, this makes sense. What is PB, some sort of filler? Do you think my plan for that gouge underneath it makes sense?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Yeah, PB is a home made filler using polyester resin, cabosil, and chopped fiberglass strands... there's a few different recipes for it on here. I think Friscoboaters latest thread has a good recipe.

For the gouge all you really need is fairing compound to fill it with, then sand and gel coat glassing on the outside is difficult to get it to blend in and will take a lot of fairing and it still may look like caca-doody when the light hits it at certain angles. You'll restrengthen the area from the inside with the layups and new backer being glassed in, the outside will just be cosmetic.

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Yeah, PB is a home made filler using polyester resin, cabosil, and chopped fiberglass strands... there's a few different recipes for it on here. I think Friscoboaters latest thread has a good recipe.

For the gouge all you really need is fairing compound to fill it with, then sand and gel coat glassing on the outside is difficult to get it to blend in and will take a lot of fairing and it still may look like caca-doody when the light hits it at certain angles. You'll restrengthen the area from the inside with the layups and new backer being glassed in, the outside will just be cosmetic.

Gotcha. Can you recommend any store bought fillers for this purpose? If there is something decent out there I'd rather just do that.

No way ill be able to access the back of that gouge without dismantling the whole interior, so ill do as you say and just fill, fair and sand. I don't care if its not perfect looking, it's not a noticeable area of the boat when it's in the water.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Here's the recipe for the PB:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...18-complete-restoration-thread-585518-12.html

Post #282

If you can't access the back of the gouge, how are you going to install the new backer and glass it in?

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Here's the recipe for the PB:

http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...18-complete-restoration-thread-585518-12.html

Post #282

If you can't access the back of the gouge, how are you going to install the new backer and glass it in?

The backer will be for the bow eye, which I can access. But directly under that is the bench seat in the cuddu, so that gouge is inaccessible.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

The backer will be for the bow eye, which I can access. But directly under that is the bench seat in the cuddu, so that gouge is inaccessible.

Hmmmm, that's going to make that backer pretty short and is probably why the holes wallowed out so easily. I guess the seats are cushion all the way back and no way to cut an access hole eh?

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Hmmmm, that's going to make that backer pretty short and is probably why the holes wallowed out so easily. I guess the seats are cushion all the way back and no way to cut an access hole eh?

Maybe, but wouldn't be worth it I don't think. There's enough room to put a decent backer in there for the bow eye, so ill just do that. Fact is, there was nothing I'm there before as far as I recall, so anything will be an improvement.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

That Dock Rash is gunna take more work than what JNG suggested if you want it to last. If not then follow his posted technique.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Maybe, but wouldn't be worth it I don't think. There's enough room to put a decent backer in there for the bow eye, so ill just do that. Fact is, there was nothing I'm there before as far as I recall, so anything will be an improvement.

Your fine the way your doing it mate .. just mat glass/gell the outside and back block the eye like you suggested for the inside.

YD.

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Your fine the way your doing it mate .. just mat glass/gell the outside and back block the eye like you suggested for the inside.

YD.

Thank you sir, will do. I'll post my progress.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Thank you sir, will do. I'll post my progress.

If you need any other help with the gel color lemme know with make year and model .

YD.

 

[stephentyler20]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

If you need any other help with the gel color lemme know with make year and model .

YD.

Oh wow do you have some way of figuring that out? I wasn't really sure how I was going to deal with that. The boat is a 1988 Wellcraft 210 Classic, is that too old to figure out the color match? It's red over white, but only the white part has damage as you can see.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Bow eye fiberglass in serious need of repair...

Oh wow do you have some way of figuring that out? I wasn't really sure how I was going to deal with that. The boat is a 1988 Wellcraft 210 Classic, is that too old to figure out the color match? It's red over white, but only the white part has damage as you can see.

Sorry for the late response ( I didnt see it in my subscribes ).

Well the red I see candy apple, ferrari red, and a possible fire thorn red (89-91).

The white I cant put my finger on.. there was a 85-87 white#11 ( spectrum w8155a non stock ) and then there is another white#11 ( 91 spectrum w81577ab gallon only ).

I just talked to wellcraft and he said it should be the spectrum White#11 W8155a which is a non stock gel. Meaning its kinda up to you to match the gel . It would give you a good base to work with if you could get it .. but it probably wouldnt match perfectly.

Sorry I couldnt be of much more help here.

YD.