cracks and hole

[xjcj3a]

found a crack in the side of the boat(96 glastron gs 160) bought some waterproof epoxy stuff. could see alittle fiberglass underneath the crack becuase a chunk of the gelcoat is gone but cant see all the way through, however.

while crawling around underneath found 3 hairline cracks(could barely make them flex when i pushed on them) and then somehow a screw has gone through the bottom of the boat leaving a small hole.

the screw hole is the one that makes me nervous, i pluged it up with the epoxy and im gonna put another coat over it again tomorow. im pretty sure some foam is wet, but the boat doesnt lean one way or the other(not that i notice anyways)

even if some foam is wet, will less then an 8th inch hole wet that much foam to make it to a point that with the hole fixed it will just keep soaking up water? am i being to paranoid? and did i fix the problems good enough or should i of used something else?


sorry for going on so long just never had hole problems before.i talked with a guy at the store about the mex stuff to fix this, he said that it gets so hard it doesnt always stay and the epoxy flexes more?


thanks for any help. heres a few pictures of the problems.

 

[xjcj3a]

Re: cracks and hole

no one?

 

[lucid484]

Re: cracks and hole

how long does your boat stay in the water...i think that an 1/8" hole would be big enough to let a good amount of water soak into the foam.

 

[xjcj3a]

Re: cracks and hole

longest ive ever had it in the water was for about 5 hours, but this weekend im going to moore it. like i said i pluged up the holes with an epoxy that is waterproof and says for structural. im thinking that should do it, but this stuff is kind of scary.

 

[henrye718]

Re: cracks and hole

As long as you sanded it real well to give your adhesive a good bite into the glass it should hold and it does not break down being submerged. My way would have been to put a stainless screw in there coated with some 3M 5200. The screw is the structure and the 3M will last years and years to keep water from seeping past the screw.

 

[xjcj3a]

Re: cracks and hole

should of said before, but i left the screw in the hole, then packed the epoxy in around it.

 

[pinecrestwoods]

Re: cracks and hole

Yeah, you hear a lot about those dang screw holes, if ya know what I mean. Someone was a little careless when replacing the floor. You betcha, it took on some water and did some soakin'.

I'm more worried about your "hairline" cracks. I don't have a lot of experience in this dept., but it could be that your structure is a bit compromised (rotten), allowing the glass to flex too much. I couldn't tell where the pics were taken, could you say more about where the cracks are? And what size chisel is that (for reference sake)?

I'm not trying to cause a panic, I'm just trying to throw some info out there.

Jeff

 

[xjcj3a]

Re: cracks and hole

1 inch chisel, shots are all on the drivers side, under the boat, the big one is towards the back perhaps a stick or something got hit. to my knowledge the stringers are fiberglass and the floor is solid no give in any place.

the cracks barely move when i push on them.