It looks to me in the photos that you didn't grind off the bottom paint
before applying the glass. If so, the glass will not adhere for long and
you should peel or grind it off.

The correct repair of a wound like this is not trivial. Any less is a waste
of time and will not go unnoticed when a potential buyer surveys the boat.
Doing it right requires gaining access to the site, lots of grinding and
considerable thickness of glass. There's more in the West System pamphlet:

002-550 Fiberglass Boat Repair & Maintenance
Softcover-84 pages.
A complete, illustrated guide to most fiberglass boat repair problems.
Includes detailed instructions on repairing rotted stringers and frames,
delamination, keel damage. Also covers fairing keels, hardware bonding,
finishing and installing teak veneers.




"joeb" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello. I was hoping that I could get some advice on repairing
fiberglass on a damaged keel. I was out on Lake Erie and lost my engine
and ended up slamming into the breakwall a few times before getting a
tow. It put a 1"x3" hole in the side of my keel. I've read up on
fiberglass repair, including the book "The Fiberglass Boat Repair
Manual."

My question is this... The flat bottom of the keel was not very
accessible, so I just wrapped the fiberglass around and under the keel.
Is this going to cause me any long term problems? Ideally, I would've
ground out around the bottom like I did the top, but I just couldn't
get access without lifting the boat off the trailer.

----------------------------------|
\ (keel) /
\ /
\--------|xxxxx|-----/

(damaged area is the xxxx's)

The boat is old and cosmetics aren't important. I just want a sound,
safe repair. I've applied about 5-6 layers of 6 oz. fiberglass cloth
w/Mas Resin & Fast Hardner. I'd rather not grind it all down and start
over if it's good enough as is.

Pictures of the repair can be found @
http://csilo.com/randomphotos.aspx?f...og/boatrepair/

Thanks for your advice,
Joe