HULL REPAIR ????'S

[Sean Riddle]

When I removed the deck and rear bulkhead of my '62 Fabuglas to replace the stringers I found two cracks in the hull. One is round about the size of a dime and the other is about 3" long and runs parrallel with the hull where the hull and starboard gunwale meet.The dime size crack looks like where a rock bounced up from the pavement while trailering and is not broken completely through but the other straight crack I can see daylight through. I would like these repairs to outlast me and need some advice as how to make a SOLID repair. I am re-stringing and decking the boat with epoxy and s type fiberglass cloth and roving. I plan to grind the areas down good and clean them with acetone before making any repairs , but I am not sure of technique to use for the hull patching work. This is what I was planning........ Thought I would tape the cracks from the outside and then make my repairs from inside with a couple layers of epoxy soaked cloth and roving let cure then do outside cosmetics with marine-tex or something similar? I think this will be quite a sound repair but just wanted to check with you more experienced "glassers" before I did the repairs to make sure I didn't miss anything . Thanks for any help............. RR

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: HULL REPAIR ????'S

Yur on the right track. I've heard you should drill a small hole at each end of a crack to stop it from spreading.

 

[G DANE]

Re: HULL REPAIR ????'S

I repaired a crack in my hull too, from standing on a trailer roller with lots of water in boat. I ground down an area inside of 10 x 10" , down to 1/8" from surface at crackline and laid 6 layers of mat and poly, the first 2x5", next 3X6" next 4x7", then 6x8, 7x9, 10x10. I only had to use a little putty and sand outside afterwards. Very strong.