Use your second approach. Definitely put a cloth patch over the job; four or
six oz cloth is sufficient. DO NOT us poly resin; use epoxy.Smooth with
filled epoxy. Barrier coat if you are really fussy.

Bob Swarts

"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?