wanna repair a few small cracks

[mwe-maxxowner]

I have a couple small cracks in the fiberglass/gelcoat in a few corners where it lips over into the interior, and a few on the topside at the rear around the corners of some access doors to get into compartments on either side of my motor. I plan to pit a little fiberglass underneath these spots this winter. Never messed with fiberglass before. I'm looking for any tips on reinforcing these spots so they don't get worse. Maybe even repair the crack in the gelcoat?

 

[Chris1956]

Re: wanna repair a few small cracks

You should repost with pictures, in the repair forum. Generally, if the cracks are superficial in the gelcoat, maybe down to the cloth, some polyester marine surfacing putty, dyed to match the gel coat will suffice. If the cracks are in the cloth, you need to reenforce with poly resin and cloth. If the cracks are structural in nature, especially below the waterline, I recommmend epoxy and cloth. Resin is not hard to work with. Just mix the right amount of catalyst for the amount of resin and the ambient temperature.

Catalysed poly resin will set up rapidly, especially in the sun. It can get hard in seconds or a couple of minutes. Catalysed Epoxy tends to set up fairly slow, say hours.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: wanna repair a few small cracks

Thanks! Nothing anywhere near the waterline, just where the fiberglass turns down into the interior of my boat in a few spots, and around accesses on the platforms in he back where you climb back into the boat from being in the water. Ill take some specific pictures and post.

Not incredibly worried with repairing the gelcoat, I just wanna really reinforce the crack on the backside of the glass so they don't grow.

 

[Solittle]

Re: wanna repair a few small cracks

YOu will not get any meaningful replies without pictures - sorry.

 

[mwe-maxxowner]

Re: wanna repair a few small cracks

Just wanted to know the procedure/products to repair a small crack. No pictures handy, but when I have a chance ill definitely snap and post! Just had it on my mind with some time to kill.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: wanna repair a few small cracks

Just wanted to know the procedure/products to repair a small crack. No pictures handy, but when I have a chance ill definitely snap and post! Just had it on my mind with some time to kill.

I can tell yeah ..

Grind out repair ( big or small ) .. fill with glass ( some fillers are small glass fillers..and some are layups depending on the repair )

Fill and fair. ( shape )

Prep and mask off where you want to respray said repair area with 180 paper.
Mix and spray gelcoat ( or matched paint ) to repair area. Spray area..

Sand/buff/blend in repair area ..

Does this help ?..

YD.