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Epoxy patching over polyester
I'm embarking on a campaign to keep the water out of my 1950's boat's cabin
structure. Original construction was plain timber framing, marine ply and polyester/gelcoat over the top. Rainwater has got in around windows, along the edges of ply, and various fastenings, both original and additions. I expect it will take me a couple of years to replace some rotten ply, make new window frames, and cut out various bits of rotten. I've got some merbau lined up for window and cabin frames, exterior ply with a couple of coats of epoxy for flat surfaces. So if I can make it stick, it will presumably outlast me. But I'm new to this - so any comments welcome. A typical job is eliminating a vent for a long-gone holding tank. Having removed the air scoop, cut off the block which kept it above the deck, and cleaned up the resulting mess, I've got an area about 4" x 8" of exposed and somewhat damaged (delaminated) 1/2" ply, with 2" hole in the middle. ( I'm old enough to still be comfortable with the old feet and inches that were used when the boat was built. ) I've removed all the proud fibreglass around the original mounting block, love the Fein multitool for this sort of work ... So now I have a tapered edge of the original glass, then gelcoat, then many paint layers. My plan is to clean up a small area of the underside of the ply around the hole, then prop a piece of HD polyethylene sheet underneath the problem area. Cut a piece of 1/2" ply to be a loose fit in the hole, perhaps shave a bit of the thickness so it matches everything else. Coat it with epoxy, paint the edge of the hole with epoxy / fibre mix, drop it in the hole. If there are several ply's missing, add shaped / chamfered epoxy coated marine 3-ply pieces to add bulk. Then a couple of layers of glass cloth in increasing sizes, ( original looks like it had 2 layers, I figure three will be enough for what I'm doing.) Hopefully by now it will be roughly level, make it so with epoxy / microspheres mix. Whilst I'd welcome any comments, my area of concern is how far do I go with grinding back ( removing) gellcoat. This is clearly not going to be a strength issue, but I want the patch to stick and to be waterproof under the paint ... David |
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