Repairing Gouges on the hull

[BiegRod]

I knew it would be coming sooner or later. I am about to get my first experience with fiberglass repair. I have a gouge in the hull right down the keel due to a bunk on the trailer that broke free and the bracket ripped through the gelcoat and into the glass. Looks like its about 1/8" or so into glass at deepest points. Its about 8-10" long and maybe 1/2" wide. The boat is a center console and sits on a trailer.

I have been reading the posts regarding fiberglass repair. It looks like I need to get the West Systems booklet on repairs as a how to guide.

I expect that I will need to do some light grinding to clean up any loose glass splinters etc.

With all that said, Here are my questions:

1) I have seen many references to making sure the area is dried out before repairing. Since the boat is on a trailer, the only moisture that is exposed to the damaged area is rain that runs down the side of the hull. Since the gouge is on the very bottom and shouldn't be collecting any standing water, do I need to be concerned with rain / humidity?

2) I am planning on getting some resin and cloth strips to do the repair. Will this adhere to the underside ok without anything supporting it while the resin cures?

3) Are there any suggestions that you who are in the know can offer other than to follow the West Systems instructions? I am trying to do this without the expense of a glass shop and feel like I should be able to handle it. Just a little nervous about messing anything up and causing more damage down the road.

Thanks for any advise...

 

[marine4003]

Troy, forget the glass strips, use the west system only. West offers many "fillers" you mix in with the epoxy,fillers which act as a epoxy stiffener: Colloidal Silica, being one.Absolutely get the manual or go to west's home page,it offers tons of advice,as for moisture, dry with a cloth,then borrow the wife's hair dryer and thoroughly dry it out. and finally, yes the product will adhere to the hull un-supported,mixed properly with the filler, West has the consistency of peanut butter.This isnt hard to do,follow the steps :fair down area to be filled- dry area - clean area w/ acetone - mix west system - using plastic putty knife fill area - sand to match hull - buy Prevail spray gun,mix gelcoat - spray,cover w/ plastic - done. the most important thing is not to rush anything...and read all instructions. Good Luck.

 

[blueflew]

I would not use the west epoxy system for a gelcoat repair. the west epoxy will bond very well to the boat (which is a polyesther resin), but polyesther or vinyl esther gelcoat will not bond well to the west epoxy. Keep all the resins polyesther and you won't go wrong. Put blue painters tape all around the damage so you keep things neat. Sand the damage and bevel the edges with #80 Wet/dry paper and make sure all loose gelcoat pieces are sanded off. If the damage is only 1/8" deep, add some milled fibers to polyesther resin and spackle it in the damage and let it cure. The milled fibers will be stronger than collidal silica (cabosil). sand the repair well with #80 wet/dry paper and clean with acetone. Matching the gelcoat is the hardest part of the job. If the boat isn't too old and you can get some gelcoat from the dealer, that's your best bet or try spectrumcolor dot com. Spectrum makes a repair paste gelcoat which works great or you can add some cabosil to regular gelcoat to make it thick and spackle it in the damage, cover with wax paper and let it cure. then wet sand starting with #300 to # 800 and then machine buff with heavy duty compound, then finesse it, then wax. Oh, sometimes after you start sanding the gelcoat, you get some pin holes, clean it with acetone and apply more gelcoat to fill the pinholes. this is where spraying a light coat of gelcoat will help. You must thin the gelcoat with styrene or duratec to spray it. take a look at this video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEE6SFUdpg&feature=related

 

[BiegRod]

Thanks guys, may not be as much work as I anticipated. Blue, really appreciate the YouTube link.

I'll have to get a closer examination of how much the glass itself was cut into and make sure that gelcoat alone will suffice.

Thanks again for the advise