I'd go with door #2.

A 4" angle grinder ($12 from Harbor Freight or Bargain Supply) will make
quick work of the grinding. Sneak up on it. It cuts quick. Get to the
clean solid stuff.

Fill the vee with epoxy thickened with fiberglass particles and
thixotropicized (I don't know the structure you're patching, so this is the
best strength stuff.) West #403 plus #406 (colloidal silica) or
equivalents.

One or two layers of glass over the fix -- slather them with epoxy thickened
with #406 and then cover with vinyl to save a lot of fairing and sanding.
Force the air bubbles out the side with your fingers.

When cured, wash, sand to roughen, then spray with Rustoleum primer followed
by Rustoleum white paint.

Fix the beds on your trailer so it doesn't crack again.

Roger

http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm

"Chris" wrote in message
.. .
Howdy all,

I've got some visible cracks at the bottom of my hull on my 16ft runabout.
This past summer when using the boat I was getting a bit of water in it
after having it sit for a while in the water (the bilge pump easily took
care of it). I'm now thinking that these cracks may be the cause and
water slowly seeps into the boat.

Now, my question about how I should attempt to fix this giving the
following considerations 1. It's an old boat. 2. I use it a 4-5
weekends a year. 3. I don't want to spend a lot of money as its not worth
it.

My ideas have been the following:

1. The ugly job
- rough up the area around the crack and put a few fiberglass patches
on it (poly resin & cloth)
- paint over it

2. Cleaner job
- grind out the crack and a bit of the area around it (make a V)
- fill with fiberglass resin, or epoxy resin using a filler
- not sure if a cloth patch on top of this would be necessary.
- paint over it

What do you guys think given the considerations?