1989 15 Sport: Sealing Holes from old Fasteners

[fbliii]

New to the Forum. I recently purchased a 1989 Sport 15 in unbelievable condition. The boat was in the same family for 30 years and kept indoors its entire life. The engine is a 1990 Evinrude 48-HP. A fuel tank was included.

Fig. 1. 1989 SPORT 15 with modifications to seating and bow-mounted trolling motor.

15_.jpg (32.71 KiB) Viewed 2466 times

The previous owner modified the interior for fishing by removing the thwart seats and installing a couple of pedestal seats and a trolling motor. The owner had the two original thwart seats in the corner of his garage since 1997, and I got those, too. As all the mahogany is original and matches. I plan on removing all his modifications and returning the boat to its original form.

What is the best way to seal the screw holes in the floor (when the pedestal seats are removed) and in the bow lip (where the trolling motor mount is attached)?

I will appreciate your expertise and suggestions on how to restore.

My family had both 13-foot and 15-foot Whalers when I was growing up, so this boat brings back a lot of great memories. I can’t wait to get it back in original form.

[jimh]

Congratulations on becoming the owner of the best small skiff ever made, the Boston Whaler 15-footer.

I wouldn't be quite so fast to put back the thwart seats in the boat. Just about every classic SPORT 15 has its seating changed because the original thwart seats are not very comfortable. Twenty years ago I used to own one when I was in my 40's. I don't think I could survive an hour in a 15-footer with original thwart seats today.

One way to seal an unused small hole from an old fastener is to fill the hole with marine caulk in a color that is a close match to the gel coat hue. This takes about five minutes to accomplish.

Or a more elaborate solution: fill unused fastener holes with WEST System epoxy mixed with white low-density filler material, but not flush to the surface. Then add a thin layer of gel coat resin color matched to the boat's hue, or, if the hole is not particularly in a high visibility location, just leave the epoxy. Epoxy will tend to yellow somewhat with age.

The easiest solution: put an oval head stainless steel screw into the hole with a dress washer. This is a good solution for a hole in a very high visibility location. On my boat there are several very highly visible oval head screws with dress washers that have no purpose other than to fill a hole. No one as ever commented to me about these several extraneous screws. It is quite normal to see the head of a screw fastener on a Boston Whaler boat.

[biggiefl]

If you don't like the seats, remove them.

Fill fastener empty holes with epoxy of some sort, and then fill with Spectrum color Desert Tan gel coat patch kit. You will hardly notice it except for the lack of non-skid pattern.

You can also try to imprint the non-skid pattern onto the gel coat by making a mold of it with putty or something and dabbing that on the gel coat paste before it cures. I have done this, and it is better than doing nothing.

[Oldslowandugly]

Wow what a score--that boat is beautiful.

I also have a 48SPL engine, and it is just about perfect for the 15-footer.

I agree [with jimh] about the seats. First try those seats, then try sitting down low where the originals would be. See how your back and legs react. I think you will find the current seats are much better.

I like to fill holes with white Marine Tex as it is even stronger than the surrounding area and it can be sanded.

[jimh]

MarineTex is just an epoxy premixed with filler with some sort of hardener in a very low ratio to resin. Once you open the bottle, all the material is exposed to air. I don't think the shelf life is very good.

Buy a WEST Systems repair kit and you can fill 500-holes or make many other useful repairs with it. The resin and hardener come in sealed foil packets (like catsup packages). There are usually about five sets of packets in a kit. One packet set will fill all the holes you are likely to find. Be sure to prepare all of them before opening and mixing the resin and hardener. The unused packets will last for ten years.

Never use pure epoxy at the surface layer because it will be much harder than the 30-year-old gel coat. Sanding a blob of pure epoxy to be faired with the gel coat surface will be difficult.

The notion of taking a mold and making an impression of the non-skid pattern into curing gel coat resin is an often-mentioned idea, but I don't think it is actually done nearly as often as it is mentioned.

Previously-owned boats always come with many old fastener holes that are not needed, and it won't be a crime against nature if some of them are in non-skid and are not filled with a matching pattern. They are just small diameter holes.

[biggiefl]

I actually have a 3x3" rubber mold of the non skid that I acquired years ago from a company that I have used many times over the years. I bought it when I had to repair the bow corner foot rest on a Montauk that was cracked. The lack of nonskid looked horrible. With the pedestal seat bolt pattern in a large circle, I think it will look bad as well. But if it under the thwart seat, probably not that noticeable.