www.iFourWinns.com

I had the boat on the trailer yesterday to give it a wash and wax. I noticed that on the underside of the hull, along one of the "ribs" there are two small dings. I am not sure what I hit, but basically the thin layer of white has chipped away revealing some fiber (sorry I am not a fiberglass expert). Anyway, here is a picture of it so you can get a sense of the size of these two little issues:



Now the fun part - Is this a DIY repair job with a kit from Boaters World? Or do I need to call in a pro and give him some $$$. I am pretty handy in fixing things around the house, but have never tried to repair fiberglass.

Any advice??

Thanks,
T

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'06 Horizon 210

I certainly wouldn't put the boat back in the water until those were adressed. No expert on gelcoat repairs here either, although I've done a patch or two. These would be candidates for a self repair in my opinion. I'd want opinions from others if I were you.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

I have a couple of nicks like that over the last years of use on the boat. I have been patching them with the small tubes of gelcoat repair from the stores until I have the time and/or money to get them fixed to be cosmetically perfect. I'm certainly not going to allow little stuff and cosmetic stuff from interfering with my boating enjoyment.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

I agree. This is a good point. All you really need to do now is patch to keep water from penetrating under the gel coat and into the FG, otherwise you may wind up with blistering over time. You are likely to see more knicks over the next few years and you can have them all done professionally later on.

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'04 FW 268Vista "Andiamo"

As stated, you are fine to boat with those as is. If you want to do the repair I'd pull the boat out of the water. Not sure if you trailer it. On the 3/4" I might lay some fiberglass resin in there just to build it up some but it's hard to determine the depth it from the pic. You want to build it up to about an 1/8th of an inch from the surface to allow that final 1/8th for gelcoat. Or if you have plenty of gelcoat (it's much more expensive than the fiberglass epoxy) you could just lay it all in there in a few coats and be done with it. Here's a few pics of my repairs:




The first pic it was a little deep so I used some fiberglass to build it up as I was explaining. The back of the ESP the prior owner must have backed into a mooring and spidered it bad. So I ground out all of it with a dremel and re-gelcoated it. That was a lot of work. But gelcoating is easy - it's so forgiving. If you don't like it just grind it out and start over. I wish I had some finished pics on here but I was too anxious to have the boat in the water. It turned out perfect.


Edit* I just noticed you are below the waterline with those. I'd do as the guys said and patch them up with a generic gelcoat. At least you don't have to stare at it like my ESP. Then you have the option of making it pretty in the offseason. Check out spectrumcolor.com for the gelcoat - it was a dead nuts color match. And here's a link that I followed to learn how to work with the gelcoat: http://www.fiberglass-repair.com/rshop3.html

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V475
Chris Craft Catalina 23 w/ 300 G2
Previously-V338, 248 Vista, H210

Hey thanks for input guys. I am going to try to patch it using some gel coat patch. I typically leave this in dry stack at the marina, but had trailered it home for some cleaning and found these surprises. Then, in september, I may turn it over to a pro if my fix doesn't look good.

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'06 Horizon 210

Hmm... dry stack? I assume you've seen them stack your boat. Any chance that's the source of the damage?

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

^^That's probably what caused it. That's a really random chip to get even if you struck something partially submerged. I'd hit them up for the repair. When I bought my boat (used) at the marina they used the boat lift and set it on the trailer perfectly. Two guys were doing it and they looked like they knew what they were doing. I walked away while they were backing off of it and the operator's helper for whatever reason also walked off so he gouged the S#*& out of the back corner of the boat. I made them do the repair on the spot to my satisfaction. I was level headed about it and they made an excellent repair. they stayed late on a saturday afternoon to make it right. They were pretty embarrased!

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V475
Chris Craft Catalina 23 w/ 300 G2
Previously-V338, 248 Vista, H210

Yeah - that had crossed my mind a few times, not to mention all of the other general dock "rash" that seems to occur from the time I drop the boat off and then pick it back up. I barely kiss the dock when I bring it in and always use fenders.

I tried using a gelcoat patch tonight. One of the gouges is pretty deep, so we'll see how it cures out tomorrow. I started to get some marine-tex, but wanted to try the simple approach first. This patch will probably do fine until September - October. I figure that fiberglass pros might be looking for work by then and I can have it redone.

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'06 Horizon 210

You aren't in MD are you?

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V475
Chris Craft Catalina 23 w/ 300 G2
Previously-V338, 248 Vista, H210

No, I am in TN.

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'06 Horizon 210

I wouldnt sweat that chip one bit. None of us can see the depth. but it looks cosmetic. Roll on, get it fixed it the winter.