Loose material chipping from interior

[sangalanga]

New member and very relieved to find this forum. This has become a great resource for my first boat project.

OK to my question, in the attached picture, you will see sections of the interior of my 1983 Starwind (Spindrift) 190. I have circled the areas were I have scrapped and removed material (I can only assume it is some kind of gel coat) that was chipping off. I can then see the fiberglass underneath. The cause is probably due to water getting in between the two layers. The ceiling which you do not see is worse. There are some sections that are up to a foot in width. The areas that have not come apart are pretty much part of the boat and only some heavy duty sanding (sand blasting) will remove.

Anyway my first instinct is to smear some sort of putty on just the areas that I have been able to scrape by hand to level it out, sand and then paint the entire interior. But what putty\material should I use to cover such wide areas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Loose material chipping from interior

It depends on the finish you want.

The chipped material looks like some type of resin or gelcoat... if that's the case matching the look may be hard. If you're covering it with vinyl or fabric you can just use some white marine-tex there or poly/epoxy with filler. They'll cover well and stick without the need for glass or fabric. You can mix up an epoxy filler with chopped glass in it if you want it to be extra tough.

I'd guess it cracked due to stress on those areas... flexing beyond the limit of the plastic to handle. If it happens again it'll crack again. fair warning.

Erik

 

[sangalanga]

Re: Loose material chipping from interior

Fellas,

The marine-tex worked great! We put that on and then two coats of alkyd enamel. It looks great! Thanks for the great advice. I would load some during and after pics but they are just too large. Now on to the next project....


Sanga