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Repair Damage to 13-footer Keel
Repair Damage to 13-footer Keel
I was given a 13-foot Boston Whaler boat that sat in a field on a rock for years. I finally flipped the boat in my garage to work on it and saw that the keel has been crushed by the rock in a small area. I was wondering what's involved in making the correct repair. Thank you.
Re: Repair Damage to 13-footer Keel
There are several articles in the archives that explain the process of making a repair to damage to the Unibond hull of a Boston Whaler boat. I recommend reading these:
Repairing Hull Damage the Whaler Way
by Taylor Clark
INSTRUCTIONS -- HULL PATCH KITS
by the Boston Whaler Company, c.1994
From your photo-image, it looks like there is an indentation in the hull surface surrounding the area where the keel extrusion has been broken. You should repair this indented area and make it fair with the rest of the hull. The small extrusion of the keel will be a straightforward repair. Because this area is on the hull bottom and will not be seen in most situations, you can forego the careful matching of the color of the final top coat resin (or gel coat) to the existing hull color. Typically a base white gel coat resin can be tinted with some acrylic paint pigments from an art supply shop and a reasonably close match made in this manner, instead of buying expensive gel coat in small quantities from a boutique supplier that offers OEM color matching.
For more on using acrylic pigments to tint gel coat resin, see a third article on Boston Whaler boat hull repair at
The Epoxy Cure
The hull bottom of your project boat appears to have a very old coating of anti-fouling paint. If you don't plant to remove all the anti-fouling paint, and plan to apply a new top coat of anti-fouling paint to the hull bottom, then there really is no concern about color matching the repair area to the existing hull color, as it will all be under a new coat of anti-fouling paint.
Repairing Hull Damage the Whaler Way
by Taylor Clark
INSTRUCTIONS -- HULL PATCH KITS
by the Boston Whaler Company, c.1994
From your photo-image, it looks like there is an indentation in the hull surface surrounding the area where the keel extrusion has been broken. You should repair this indented area and make it fair with the rest of the hull. The small extrusion of the keel will be a straightforward repair. Because this area is on the hull bottom and will not be seen in most situations, you can forego the careful matching of the color of the final top coat resin (or gel coat) to the existing hull color. Typically a base white gel coat resin can be tinted with some acrylic paint pigments from an art supply shop and a reasonably close match made in this manner, instead of buying expensive gel coat in small quantities from a boutique supplier that offers OEM color matching.
For more on using acrylic pigments to tint gel coat resin, see a third article on Boston Whaler boat hull repair at
The Epoxy Cure
The hull bottom of your project boat appears to have a very old coating of anti-fouling paint. If you don't plant to remove all the anti-fouling paint, and plan to apply a new top coat of anti-fouling paint to the hull bottom, then there really is no concern about color matching the repair area to the existing hull color, as it will all be under a new coat of anti-fouling paint.
Re: Repair Damage to 13-footer Keel
As always, thank you for the detailed response, Jim Yes, it is very old bottom paint. I got some AquaStrip and am in the process of removing the paint. That stuff works very well, I am finding. The boat will only be trailered so no more bottom paint. I intend to repair as best as I can the many voids and damaged areas and then fare and roll/tip with I guess something like AwlGrip. As i had posted elsewhere, this boat has a sad tale attached. Not to bore anybody but back in the late 70's, I had a 17' Montauk and must have impressed my college roommate. We went our separate ways then and only hooked up again after 38 years had passed and here,he had spent those years in boats and motors...had about 50 outboards and 5 boats. He had several Whalers and also 50's vintage boats, restored them, etc. The sad news was that he was diagnosed with a terminal illness 2 years ago and wanted me to have this boat because he knew he would never get around to restoring it and in his words, since it was I who gave him the boating bug, he wanted to be the guy who got me BACK on the water! Well he passed away last week (Good Friday) and I have this banged up Whaler that, even though I have no experience with this work, I truly want to finish to honor my friend!
I am starting at the very beginning. I have his grinder and all my sanders and all the tools I need but I need to resist the urge to start hacking away - I want to be sure of what I am doing!
Whew! Sorry for being so long-winded! Thank you again for the advice
I am starting at the very beginning. I have his grinder and all my sanders and all the tools I need but I need to resist the urge to start hacking away - I want to be sure of what I am doing!
Whew! Sorry for being so long-winded! Thank you again for the advice