Question:
I need some advice Fiberglass Boat Repair Instructions?
The montgomery 10' dingy that my daughter and I
use to row and sail around the river here has a small leak. We
noticed it while out on the river this afternoon. It seems to leak
about half a cup of water in an hour. It looks like there is a small,
dime-sized piece of gel-coat missing from the "keel" where it meets
the transom.
I thought I would gouge out any loose material, sand it down then
repair it with MarineTex. Is this practical or feasible. Would it be
worth it to reinforce the entire keel with fiberglass? None of the
books I happen to have around mention that type of repair. I also
have a tube of some sort of glass putty that I thought about using.
I realize this isn't building a boat, but, well, thanks anyway.
Answer:
- As in most of life's problems, this is solved through a suitable
application of epoxy.
I'm not familiar with the boat you mention. At any rate, get a belt
sander or a surform or some kind of destructotool and remove
everything loose around the damage. Then feather the edges of the
damaged area into a dish shape. This is important to prevent further
"zippering", or continued damage due to strain on the ripped edges.
Now cut a patch from 6 oz fiberglass cloth to fit into the dish, and
epoxy it in. Wait for it to dry and do it again. Try to get at least
two thicknesses of cloth over any gaps. When you think it's strong
enough fill with epoxy thickened with silica. Fair it out to a nice
hollow about one layer of cloth thick with one of those plastic
spreader things. Wait for it to dry thoroughly and sand to a nice
finish. Apply one more layer of cloth. Let it dry. Feather the
edges, fill the weave of the cloth with slightly thickened epoxy, and
do a final sanding. Paint. I use a spray on white epoxy appliance
paint for spot repairs. It sands very well, and I can get it at the
auto parts store.
You can get small amounts of epoxy, cloth, silica, etc from most of
the big epoxy suppliers. West systems has a good set of pamphlets on
fiberglass repair. I get my epoxy supplies from Raka cruising in
Florida. They all come with pretty good instructions. Needless to
say, be careful with the stuff.
It's not as hard as it sounds; I started using epoxy to fix Laser mast
steps and Hobie decks a few years ago, and it's always worked great
for me .
- , I read your post about this repair and thouyht you might have some
idea of how to help me! I have a Hobie 18 with both hulls delaminating
very badly. I don't sail her anymore in fear of her breaking up!! The
decks of both hulls from 2 or3 feet from the front to almost all the way
to the back is delaminating. The advice seems to be repairing with epoxy.
They have said to inject it though small holes drilled into the deck,but
with all the delam I have,it seems I would use a heck of a lot of epoxy!
I saw you have fixed Hobies with epoxy, so what do you think???
I would greatly appreciate any help and advice on this
