On Thu, 3 Jun 2010 01:29:54 +0100, Barnett22
wrote:


'Bruce[_4_ Wrote:
;799646']On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 03:23:32 +0100, Barnett22
wrote:

Much old stuff snipped
-

Thanks Bruce,

I worked on the boat all day today and removed all paint and gel-coat
from the hull. Yes, it was a big job!

This is a Nitro Bass Boat, and a 1995 to boot. It is probably worth
$4,000.00 when it does not have any issues with the hull. I traded
for
this boat locally for a very nice little 4x4 pick up truck. -

I know nothing about U.S. prices but isn't $4,000 pretty cheap value
for a 4 x 4 pickup? Or isn't it?
-
While
inspecting the boat I found where a few places where it looked like
someone had worked on the hull. I asked the gentleman about it and he
said he had a little water coming in the boat and he had had this
problem corrected. I asked him twice if it leaked any water now. He
seemed to be a very honest guy. Anyway, the first time on the lake it
took on a tremendous amount of water. Bilge pumps did keep up, but
barely. To make a long story a little shorter, I got took on this
one.

So, I am a cabinet builder by trade and felt if anyone could do this I
could. I stripped all paint off and sanded all the gel-coat off. I
am
down to solid yellow fiberglass. Presently, I have found every stress
crack, “v” grooved, cleaned with Acetone and filled with epoxy filler.

I am in the process of repairing one larger spot by cutting out
damaged
area and layering with 6 layers of glass and epoxy. After these are
repaired I plan to re-sheath/re-glass the bottom with biaxial cloth
and
epoxy.

This is a 16.5’ bass boat with a 115hp outboard, so I don’t believe it
will be a problem. One other thing, it does have several places on
the
boat hull that seam weak or not too stiff. (like there’s nothing
behind
it) I am planning on buying some injection foam to try and fill in
the
gaps between the hull and the stock foam fillers that are sandwiched
between to top cap and the hull. I plan to drill holes to shoot this
into the cavity. Hopefully, this will expand enough to take some of
the load.

This boat will be trailered, only in the water for 4 – 6 hours at a
time.

Boy, I sure hope this works………spent some time on it already…..


Thanks so much guys for the advice and comments. I’ll have some
photos
up tomorrow.

Take care,-

Do let us know how you get on.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)



I will obviously need to wait for the slow epoxy to come from West.
Had no idea it would set so fast in the warm humid air.

I'll post more as I go. This first laminate was a lesson.


It looks all right in the pictures. Was there a problem?

I think the largest area I have successfully covered in one go,
working alone, is about 10 ft by about 4 feet but I did it in three
sections, working from one end to the other. It was the deck of the
rear "cockpit", for want of a better word, so it was a flat area and I
initially covered just the deck. Later I sanded and ran some 12 inch
"tape" around to seal the deck to the vertical structures.

A friend, who is in the business, covers quite large areas using a
team - one mixing, two or three rolling and another standing by to
help if necessary. I watched a team hand lay a 30 ft. speedboat, in a
mold, using, it must have been 15 people. the damnedest operation you
ever say :-)

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)