Anyone do fiberglass work/repair? I've got an old boat that needs some love before I can get her on the water.
Anyone do fiberglass work/repair? I've got an old boat that needs some love before I can get her on the water.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
It's not terribly difficult. I'm quite certain if you have any mechanical aptitude you could effect a solid repair yourself. I'm not in Florida, or I'd happily show you how...
These guys lay out a fairly good process for doing the work- https://www.fibreglast.com/product/fiberglass-repair-composite-repair/Learning_Center
Do you have pics of the damage? I can help with advice a little better if I know what kind of damage you need repaired.
In reply to Recon1342 :
If it were anything else, I'd be willing to screw around and try it, but considering the boat, and the fact that it is a boat makes me wary about teaching myself how to do it with this project.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
It's really a lot easier than people think. Check out the link I posted and see what you think...
In reply to Recon1342 :
I will. I'll post some pics in a second as well
Ok, here we go.
There are two problem areas here. At the rear is just a bad patch, up front it looks like the boat was actually somewhat split and they tried to patch that split. On both sections the resin of these old patches are not cleanly attached and tries to peel up.
I'd probably feel somewhat ok with trying to fix this on my own. Just under the drop light.
https://i.imgur.com/3rd3Khy.jpg
The bad part is up front, exactly where you'd want the boat to rip in half.
Here's the exterior, the second is a cropped pic to better show where the tear is in the hull. If you want I'll try to pull the boat into the sun tomorrow and get some better pics.
https://i.imgur.com/NzCs34V.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WJrCIyy.jpg
Interior pic
Okay. The aft area looks like the patch basically delaminated from the primary structure. With the removal of that patch and some good cleanup work, it should be a pretty simple repair. The crack up front is more involved. You'll need to remove the old patch material carefully, establish a baseline size for the crack, and then begin removal of the bad areas. Is the interior finished with gel coat or just resin? (Gel coat will be smooth, the resin will show fibers)
Once you've figured out how big an area you need to sand back to, I would come up with a way to brace the hull to prevent movement. Mainly, you want to avoid twisting on the long axis and buckling on the short axis. 2x4s and clamps should provide more than enough stiffness. Just x brace it like you would a cage and it should be fine.
The link I posted has all the info you'll need to successfully repair your boat. Even for someone who's never done it, as long as you err on the side of clean and well-prepped, and follow the instructions on your materials, it will come out fine. Everybody is scared of glass work because there's chemicals and stuff, but it's actually easier to repair than sheet metal.
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