Hi, I just bought a 17ft sailboat (my first boat), but it has some hull
damage from a hurricane smashing it into a dock. My plan is to grind
it down to clean glass (and 4 inches all around it) and lay cloth in
layers with epoxy on the outside of the hull.

I was thinking I should start with small patches and get larger with
each layer of cloth completely overlapping the previous layer until I
am able to build it up enough to get the correct shape of the bow.
Does this method sound acceptable for this type of repair or should I
shape the nose first with some sort of thickened epoxy?

The boat will be painted so I am not worried about the gel coat.

Here's a picture of the damage:
http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/groups/g_hr...I63XEBcHzI4ls2

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Forgot to mention, I cannot access the damage from the inside.. thanks.

Vic20
Your link doesn't work.
Your thoughts are basicly correct, but without some idea what size
damage you are facing, I can not be more helpful.
Get the West books on repairing fiberglass boats. You will find the
infomation there valuable
Use an epoxy that you can get pumps for that way mixing will be no issue.
If any spans are large, using cheap foam insulation board as an inside
form is a good start. It can be heat formed to be close to the required
form and bonded to the internal surface.
I'm here a lot and am interested to provide what infomation I can.
Matt Colie

vic20owner wrote:

Hi, I just bought a 17ft sailboat (my first boat), but it has some hull
damage from a hurricane smashing it into a dock. My plan is to grind
it down to clean glass (and 4 inches all around it) and lay cloth in
layers with epoxy on the outside of the hull.

I was thinking I should start with small patches and get larger with
each layer of cloth completely overlapping the previous layer until I
am able to build it up enough to get the correct shape of the bow.
Does this method sound acceptable for this type of repair or should I
shape the nose first with some sort of thickened epoxy?

The boat will be painted so I am not worried about the gel coat.

Here's a picture of the damage:
http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/groups/g_hr...I63XEBcHzI4ls2

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.