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Author Topic:   Hull Damage repaired

Lars Simonsen posted 07-05-2003 03:21 PM ET (US)
About a week ago I discovered a spot ride along the keel of my Dauntless where the fiberglass had been "crushed" by one of the rollers. I am pretty certain it was caused several months ago and went unnoticed by me since then. When I first bought the boat (used) the trailer wasn't sent up right, and the winch on the trailer was a little low. As a result, when I tightened the winch the last crank or so to pull the boat up to the bow stop, it pulled the nose of the boat down. I think the pressure of that caused the damage. It wasn't long after I got the boat that I made the adjustments on the trailer to get it all set up right, but by then, unbeknownst to me, the damage was done. Fortunately, the area was water tight, as I had absolutely no water intrusion. I tried removing the loose fiberglass and "puttying" the area with marine tex, but as soon as I rolled it off or onto the trailer, the marine tex would crack. So yesterday, I decided I'd have to review the article on this site regarding the repair of hull damage.
Today, I sanded off all the damaged fiberglass (this was the "scariest" part, as it required making what appeared to be a small damaged area (about 3 inches in diameter) much larger (about 8"x5"). There was little foam underneath; just a small air pocket (shocking!) and then a much heavier fiberglass cloth (undamaged). I sanded about 4 inches around the hole to feather out the good fiberglass, and hollowed out around the edges of the holes. I then packed the hole with fiber putty and let it set up. After it set up, I sanded to prepare it for the next step (fiberglass cloth). I've now gotten it fiber glassed, and tomorrow will sand that down and put a coat of putty to do a final smoothing and finishing. Hopefully, I'll also get my hands on some gel coat and a preval sprayer to finish it up.
I'm glad to say that despite my initial concerns about the effect of the damage, and the difficulty of repair, everything seems to be going just right. Based on what I've done so far, I know that structurally, the boat is fine, which was my primary concern (in fact, that section of the boat is probably better that it was, as there is no longer the air pocked there. How good the job looks when it's all done remains to be seen, but I'm not as concerned about that.
All in all, it's cost me about $50 so far (not counting the gel coat and preval sprayer, which I hope to get this afternoon), and a couple of hours of work. Now I have plenty of leftover fiberglass repair stuff for future repairs, and more confidence to tackle the next project.
All in all, it was very easy; while I hope I don't ever damage my hull again, it's comforting to know that fixing it right is not terribly difficult.
jimh posted 07-06-2003 09:32 AM ET (US)
Let us know how the gel coat and preval sprayer combination works. When I tried this I was surprised at the viscosity of the gel coat product (like peanut butter). You will probably have to dilute the gel coat with some thinner (acetone) to get it to spray. Taylor Clark reported on his procedure in an excellent article.
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html

Lars Simonsen posted 07-06-2003 02:08 PM ET (US)
Will do. I read Taylor's article before I got started. I wasn't able to find any gel coat yesterday. I will probably have to order some online. However, as of 10 minutes ago, I finished everything else. The finished product looks very good to me. Of course, I'm sure the gel coat will reveal all of the imperfections, but I suspect I'll be the only one that ever notices it.
Thanks for the warning on the viscosity. I'll be sure to get some more acetone.
Lars
DaveNJ posted 07-07-2003 07:17 AM ET (US)
I too noticed that thinnning the gelcoat is a tricky process. I used patch-aid as a thinner and surfacing agent. Patch aid is pretty thick stuff too, like maple syrup. After thinning it according to the manufacturers instructions, I still could not get it through the preval sprayer. It was still very thick. I thinned down some more with some acetone, maybe too much just to get it to spray. This resulted in a microthin layer of gelcoat in some areas. After light wet sanding with 600, it is gone. It is tricky. Fortunately, I did not have big areas to spray. I made out alright, but may have to spray some areas again this off season.
Next time I would try the sprayers from mini-craft or spraying with equipment that has a correct nozzle and tip for gelcoat.
Probably for the preval sprayer, you can only thin with acetone and not patch aid. Although I have heard that acetone may discolor gelcoat, whereas patch aid will not.
Let us know how you make out.

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Author	Topic: Hull Damage repaired
Lars Simonsen	posted 07-05-2003 03:21 PM ET (US) About a week ago I discovered a spot ride along the keel of my Dauntless where the fiberglass had been "crushed" by one of the rollers. I am pretty certain it was caused several months ago and went unnoticed by me since then. When I first bought the boat (used) the trailer wasn't sent up right, and the winch on the trailer was a little low. As a result, when I tightened the winch the last crank or so to pull the boat up to the bow stop, it pulled the nose of the boat down. I think the pressure of that caused the damage. It wasn't long after I got the boat that I made the adjustments on the trailer to get it all set up right, but by then, unbeknownst to me, the damage was done. Fortunately, the area was water tight, as I had absolutely no water intrusion. I tried removing the loose fiberglass and "puttying" the area with marine tex, but as soon as I rolled it off or onto the trailer, the marine tex would crack. So yesterday, I decided I'd have to review the article on this site regarding the repair of hull damage. Today, I sanded off all the damaged fiberglass (this was the "scariest" part, as it required making what appeared to be a small damaged area (about 3 inches in diameter) much larger (about 8"x5"). There was little foam underneath; just a small air pocket (shocking!) and then a much heavier fiberglass cloth (undamaged). I sanded about 4 inches around the hole to feather out the good fiberglass, and hollowed out around the edges of the holes. I then packed the hole with fiber putty and let it set up. After it set up, I sanded to prepare it for the next step (fiberglass cloth). I've now gotten it fiber glassed, and tomorrow will sand that down and put a coat of putty to do a final smoothing and finishing. Hopefully, I'll also get my hands on some gel coat and a preval sprayer to finish it up. I'm glad to say that despite my initial concerns about the effect of the damage, and the difficulty of repair, everything seems to be going just right. Based on what I've done so far, I know that structurally, the boat is fine, which was my primary concern (in fact, that section of the boat is probably better that it was, as there is no longer the air pocked there. How good the job looks when it's all done remains to be seen, but I'm not as concerned about that. All in all, it's cost me about $50 so far (not counting the gel coat and preval sprayer, which I hope to get this afternoon), and a couple of hours of work. Now I have plenty of leftover fiberglass repair stuff for future repairs, and more confidence to tackle the next project. All in all, it was very easy; while I hope I don't ever damage my hull again, it's comforting to know that fixing it right is not terribly difficult.
jimh	posted 07-06-2003 09:32 AM ET (US) Let us know how the gel coat and preval sprayer combination works. When I tried this I was surprised at the viscosity of the gel coat product (like peanut butter). You will probably have to dilute the gel coat with some thinner (acetone) to get it to spray. Taylor Clark reported on his procedure in an excellent article. http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html
Lars Simonsen	posted 07-06-2003 02:08 PM ET (US) Will do. I read Taylor's article before I got started. I wasn't able to find any gel coat yesterday. I will probably have to order some online. However, as of 10 minutes ago, I finished everything else. The finished product looks very good to me. Of course, I'm sure the gel coat will reveal all of the imperfections, but I suspect I'll be the only one that ever notices it. Thanks for the warning on the viscosity. I'll be sure to get some more acetone. Lars
DaveNJ	posted 07-07-2003 07:17 AM ET (US) I too noticed that thinnning the gelcoat is a tricky process. I used patch-aid as a thinner and surfacing agent. Patch aid is pretty thick stuff too, like maple syrup. After thinning it according to the manufacturers instructions, I still could not get it through the preval sprayer. It was still very thick. I thinned down some more with some acetone, maybe too much just to get it to spray. This resulted in a microthin layer of gelcoat in some areas. After light wet sanding with 600, it is gone. It is tricky. Fortunately, I did not have big areas to spray. I made out alright, but may have to spray some areas again this off season. Next time I would try the sprayers from mini-craft or spraying with equipment that has a correct nozzle and tip for gelcoat. Probably for the preval sprayer, you can only thin with acetone and not patch aid. Although I have heard that acetone may discolor gelcoat, whereas patch aid will not. Let us know how you make out.