I'm not sure how deep the cracks are at this point. but, I believe they
should be dealt with rather than ignore them.
In regards to the paint / gelcoat, that's an area I still have to
investigate. What was on the old boat I suppose is a 30 year old gelcoat
that may have been shined up a couple time 20 years ago. The sun and the
weather have worn it down pretty good.
I was thinking of simply doing a paint job with something that'll work.
This isn't a show boat by no means.
"Terry Spragg" wrote in message
...
Chris wrote:
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?
Close, no cigar. Grind the Vee on the outside, feathering out 5 times the
thickness of the glass, leave it rough. Wash it with acetone. Laminate
several layers of glass, starting with a narrow strip, covering with wider
strips until you fill up the Vee. Smooth and paint / gelcoat. Wet the
glass, but try to use more glass and less resin. Squeeze the bubbles out
(don't mix the goo too vigorously, just thorougly) using a serrated roller
made from 2 sizes of washers loose on bent threaded rod with locked nuts.
Clean tools with acetone.
You should also do the same on the inside, or could just lay a couple of
wider strips on the roughened inside, where you can, washing the cleaned
inside with acetone before laminating.
You will find polyester strong enough, if you get enough thickness and
surface area covered and well bonded. Epoxy would be stronger, but is
overkill, and will make the question of refinishing the exterior gelcoat
into a can of worms, because poly gelcoat doesn't stick to epoxy, so you
would need to redo the entire hull with epoxy paint to achieve a Bristol
appearance.
Polyester Gel coat is just catalyzed polyester resin with pigment and a
little thickener, like silica gel, or, I am sure others have their
favorites. You can brush it on with several / many thin freshly mixed
coats applied while the hull is still tacky and buff it flat and smooth.
It is self levelling, especially if you can turn the boat so you are
painting on the level. If you get a good colour match (on the bottom? who
cares?) you won't be ashamed of it. Don't use bondo, it just isn't as good
as it could be, with automotive fillers, etc.
Are you sure the cracks go right through? If so, gring the crack a little
beyond the torn glass. You may only want to redo the gelcoat, if that is
as deep as they go.
Water collects in boats, even condensation can get inches deep, and rain
could be getting in, too.
Terry K
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