buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

[sickz51vette]

my friend just picked up a 22' pathfinder, only a few years old i believe and we took it out today. He hasn't had much time on the water yet, and as we were going around a bend in the water he didnt see a tree stump sticking out the water and hit it pretty hard doing like 25 mph. We are very lucky the damage isn't worse, but here are some pics of it. The gouge is barely into the fiberglass thank god, but it's alot of gelcoat missing and some parts of the glass are soft and wet (its underwater). Is this something we can fix ourselfs (I have some prior bodywork experience) or should we let a marina handle it. Any idea how much something like this would cost to fix? Thanks for all the info guys.

 

[keepNitreel]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

The gouge is barely into the fiberglass thank god, but it's alot of gelcoat missing and some parts of the glass are soft and wet (its underwater).

That is an understatement, that looks like gelcoat along with the hull that is missing. Also glass should not be soft.

EDIT: Looking at it more it looks like a couple of layers of glass came off with the gel coat
The pro's on here will chime in soon and advise you the best way to got about it the right way.

 

[geedubcpa]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

Looks like you need fiberglass resin and mat. One good method to get a clean repair is to clean the area up with a dual action sander then apply fiberglass over the area - after you put the fiberglass matt on the boat you take wax paper and lay that on top of the patch while it is still wet. Use a rubber squeegee of some sort and then smooth out the glass work - this gives you a nice smooth patch.

Gel coating is the next step - if you know how to paint with a spray gun it has similar techniques, however the gel coat is much thicker and requires a diff spray gun, or at least a diff nozzle. I have a background in automotive painting but have never gel coated. So you might need to do some checking on that

 

[sickz51vette]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

thanks for the reply guys, I do have some experience in painting but nothing major. I want to try to help him out as much as I can, but he might just have a marina do the work. The boat sat in the water for about an hour after the damage on the way home, I'm shocked the stump didnt come through the side of the boat the way we hit it so hard. Very lucky I didnt fly out because we came to a stop very quick!

 

[keepNitreel]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

That gouge will require more than mat & will probably need to be tackled from the inside and out.

Wait for others to chime in before you do anything.

 

[Mark42]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

That is pretty serious damage. From the looks of it, the glass probably cracked all the way through at the chine, and thats a strong spot on the boat. It may require repairing from both outside and inside to make it strong again. If not, and a similar impact happens, the whole side of the boat can open up, and no bilge pump will save you.

Start grinding away from the outside first, but remember the hull is probably only 3/8" thick or so in that area. You might go right through it.

 

[sickz51vette]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

The fiberglass actually isnt cracked, I'm shocked. There isnt even any stress cracks in the gelcoat around the damaged area, its just a big chunk missing!
Any idea what a marina would charge for something like this? Hopefully the boat isn't a total loss. Where you can see the crack running along the side it appears to just be the gelcoat cracked, lets hope.

 

[keepNitreel]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

The fiberglass actually isnt cracked, I'm shocked. There isnt even any stress cracks in the gelcoat around the damaged area, its just a big chunk missing!
Any idea what a marina would charge for something like this? Hopefully the boat isn't a total loss. Where you can see the crack running along the side it appears to just be the gelcoat cracked, lets hope.

That big crack & the missing piece is the hull.

 

[jonesg]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

its a simple fix, getting to it from the inside is the work.
if you get an estimate ask them if they're gonna do some work to the inside, if they say no.. walk. No run.

Soft glass means the structure is damaged right thru to the inside,

I would do whatever it takes to get at the inside, remove deck whatever.
Grind the damaged area to roughen the glass, wash with acetone and lay up at least 3 layers of mat and poly resin ( use non waxed resin! )

then go at the outside, grind all the damage away and into the fresh glass you applied if needed, especially the soft area.
grind then power sand and feather the area back a few inches.
Apply mat and resin to build it back up, and fair with putty made for boats or mix your own up. Sand smooth , same as fixing a car.

Then just do the cosmetic with gelcoat.

Thats the rough outline.

 

[Mark42]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

The fiberglass actually isnt cracked, I'm shocked. There isnt even any stress cracks in the gelcoat around the damaged area, its just a big chunk missing!
Any idea what a marina would charge for something like this? Hopefully the boat isn't a total loss. Where you can see the crack running along the side it appears to just be the gelcoat cracked, lets hope.

Gel Coat is about as thick as a match book cover, if you're lucky, about twice as thick.

What your friend is missing from his boat is a considerable part of the glass structure. A lot more than just the thickness of a match book cover.

 

[superpop]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

If your buddy has insurance it should cover this. I would check into that and get it done right by someone who is a pro at this. If the boat is only a few years old you do not want an amateur job on a spot as big and critical as this spot looks.

 

[Spookeay]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

WOW, you guys are luckey.

If it were me, I would cut that part of the boat out a good 5" all the way around the visible damage feel it and take it out more if you need to.

Rebuild it.

You just don't know how much shock and compression went on into the roving.

I had previous damage on a boat that looked much like that, I though it had gotten into some rocks when I got it. Who knows how it happened.

I cleaned the area of visible damage and as I took more and more off the fracture, the glass shatter kept going.

A 5 inch by 7 inch hole became a hole I could crawl into the boat through her side before I got to un-fractured glass. Do what you will but fiberglass can crack and not show signs of it's damage.

Think of a rigid cardboard box. Firm, Strong. Then crush it and smooth it back out. It looks as good as it did before you smashed it but if you crush it again it's soft and will fold in the creases of it's former damage. It looks fine but the stress will cause it to fold with only slight pressure.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

Ditto on that.

Since this is impact damage odds are good it extends a ways out from the actual "hole". To repair it correctly whoever does it will need to take the boat apart to (as has been said) work on it from the inside.

Quite possibly internal structure has been damaged by the impact, and depending on the boat's design it may not even be near the hole. As an example, when I dropped my 21 footer off its trailer, the hull got scuffed up (Sea Ray builds 'em heavy) and the starboard side got a nice big crack in the cap.

But the other major damage was that the engine had snapped the aluminum mounts holding it to the transom. I didn't even notice that until a few days later, despite the engine being in plain sight.

If you've never done boat work, I suggest strongly that you get a marina (or better yet a dedicated boat repair shop) to do the work, at least to do the part where the interior structure is checked. You can have them leave the hull repair and finishing to your friend if he wants to save cash.

Don't look for the cheapest place to get it fixed. This is a couple thousand dollars worth of work, and if the quote is significantly less than that, ask for references. It's very possible to fix this so it looks great but won't last more than a couple years and won't be safe.

Your friend got a great boat, too bad it's dinged. I hope he had insurance...

Erik

 

[sickz51vette]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

thanks guys, he brought it to the dealer today to get an estimate.
they said that it might be ready by the weekend if they start work
right away.

 

[jonesg]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

alls well that ends well,
jack shall have jill and naught shall have nil.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

alls well that ends well,
jack shall have jill and naught shall have nil.

Um... should you really be posting when you've had so much cough medicine?

 

[jonesg]

Re: buddy ripped a chunk out his hull today, help!

Its Shakespear,
midsummer nites dream,
get edgycated.!