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Fixing two scratches in the hull
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Author:  ach1982 [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:36 am ]
Post subject:  Fixing two scratches in the hull
Hello,

while driving the boat to the trailer for slipping, we've made a mistake. :roll:
We drove very slowly, but we hit the trailer.

Now I have two little scratches in the hull.
The gelcoat is broken and you can see the fiberglass.
From insight, everything is in a good condition, there is nothing broken.

The bigger scratch is 4-5mm deep and has a size of 1 centimeter.

Here you can find a photo: https://www.boote-forum.de/attachment.f ... 1476634024


How can I fix this?

At the moment there ist antifouling around.

These steps are my idea of fixing:

-1 cleaning/sanding out the holes and the area around
-2 put some epoxyresin in the holes
-3 sanding again
-4 filling with gelcoat
-5 sanding
-6 polishing
-7 painting with epoxy antifouling primer
-8 painting with antifouling

My question is, if I've to put resin in the hole for warterprotection or is gelocoat enough?


How would you fix this?
Author:  rpengr [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
4-5 mm is very deep. For a repair that deep, I would use some fiberglass cloth to reinforce the resin. Often, you sand the hole larger to taper the edges out, then resin in fiberglass "patches" that start larger and progress smaller to fill out the center low spot.

Will this area always be coated with antifouling paint? If so, why even bother with gelcoat? Once the fiberglass/resin repair is complete and smooth, you could just prime and paint the antifouling over it.
Author:  ach1982 [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
Thanks for the reply.
The depth is 4-5 (maybe less) millimeters not centimeters.
But I don't know if i can put fiberglass/resin into it. It's really small. The diameter is smaller than a dime.
At the picture it looks bigger than it is.

This area is always coated with antifouling.
Author:  rpengr [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
Yes, I know you said millimeters. Resin by itself cracks very easily. I always use it with fiberglass to reinforce and prevent cracking. For a small repair like yours, just a thin fiberglass cloth will do...using as many layers as will fit.

After sanding the hole open a bit and tapering the sides out, the sequence is like this:
1. Brush some resin mix on the repair area surface
2. Stick a layer of fiberglass cloth to the wet resin
3. Brush just enough more resin to coat the fiberglass and not have any air bubbles
Repeat steps 2-3 several times to build up thickness (without waiting for the resin to cure).
4. Wait for it to harden (cure)
5. Sand down the high spots with a disk sander.
If you still have any low spots, repeat steps 1-5
Author:  EvilZ [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 1:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
Could you use a structural filler, similar to this?
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--marine-structural-filler-quart--347610
Looks like it has the fiberglass strands already included versus using cloth and resin.
Author:  jmb23802 [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
A quick and easy fix might be to fill the hole with epoxy and sand it smooth when you are done. I did this when I repaired some holes left by an old transducer and it worked wonderfully but it was not very pretty (might not matter in your case). When I took my repair to the shop to be covered by gelcoat my fiberglass repair guy told me that gelcoat will not bond well with epoxy sometimes (I think it depends on how it cured) and he sanded back some of the epoxy and put a layer of fiberglass before applying the gelcoat so the gelcoat would adhere better. Like rpengr suggested earlier, if you are going to cover this with anti-fouling you might consider just leveling off the hole with some epoxy and skip the gelcoat since it will be covered by anti-foul (I am assuming the anti-foul will stick to the epoxy well). An epoxy or one-step fiberglass filler similar to what EvilZ suggested might be a lot easier than using the fiberglass material if you haven't worked with it before.
Author:  LouC [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
http://www.rotdoctor.com/products/fillit.html

I don't know if a product like this is available where you are located but I have used it in numerous different repairs on both wood and fiberglass and it works great. I have small holes I filled more than 10 years ago and it still looks good. It is an epoxy based product but reinforced with fiberglass strands. For that repair you could put it on in 2 applications and it would fill that easily and you can sand and shape it just like fiberglass. You can just put your antifouling paint right over it.
Author:  rpengr [ Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
EvilZ wrote:
Could you use a structural filler, similar to this?
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--marine-structural-filler-quart--347610
Looks like it has the fiberglass strands already included versus using cloth and resin.

Yes, that should work.
Author:  ach1982 [ Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Fixing two scratches in the hull
Thanks a lot for the replys.

Sometimes it is difficult to get the same products like yours in the US (outside europe).
But yes indeed, I can fill it with with an epoxy filler with fiber in it.
I found Watertite (http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/diy/produ ... =watertite ) in a boatshop next to us.

So I'll try to do it by filling the hole with epoxy/fiber filler or watertite, covering with gelcoat and putting antifouling primer and antifouling on it.

For me it is not necessary to save time or a few bucks by putting "just" a filler on it.
I like to repair it in the best way, I can do.
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