On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 10:53:40 -0600, "Bonasa" wrote:
Then in the section titled "Impact Damage" which is what I'm following, the
first step in the actual repair is to lay up a piece of acrylic on the
outside of the hull and apply a 20 mil coat of gelcoat from the interior up
against the acrylic, then start laying up the fiberglass layers on top of
the gelcoat.

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For a first time repair attempt, I would not personally recommend that
approach although it could be made to work. I'd use epoxy because of
it's stronger secondary bond, do the work from either inside the hull,
outside, or both depending on what makes the most sense structurally.

If the hull is substantially weakened and flexible in the area of the
repair, then you need to temporarily attach a backing material either
inside or outside to provide stability during the early stages of the
new lay up. This could be something as simple as 1/4 inch plywood
covered with PVC garbage bags and attached with temporary screws
through the hull. The temporary backing can be removed after the first
few layers of glass have cured and the screw holes filled with
thickened epoxy.