Boat Repair

[alcoons]

Hi.

Have to fix a small rent (thumb size) on the keel of a Cetus. Into the fiberglass but not much. Not a major repair in the scheme of things, but have not done fiberglass in 30 years and gelcoat is new to me. Is there any boat repair workshops in the works? Anyone working on this kind of repair soon who will let me watch (I will buy the beer and burgers). While I could pull it off on my own, I always learn a great deal from watching someone, rather than not doing a great job the first time.

Thanks,

Al

[Kentskayaks]

Hi Al,

Try looking at Brian Nystroms web site. I believe he has some good instructions on repair of glass/gel coat. It's not hard to do.

Kent

[cathyfoley]

Hi.

Have to fix a small rent (thumb size) on the keel of a Cetus. Into the fiberglass but not much. Not a major repair in the scheme of things, but have not done fiberglass in 30 years and gelcoat is new to me. Is there any boat repair workshops in the works? Anyone working on this kind of repair soon who will let me watch (I will buy the beer and burgers). While I could pull it off on my own, I always learn a great deal from watching someone, rather than not doing a great job the first time.

Thanks,

Al

Brad Gwynn repairs boats for a fee. You can reach him at New England Small Craft.

[chetpk]

Hi Al,

If that chip in your hull isn't any worse than what I remember seeing on it last summer than you probably can repair it quite easily with some PC-11 epoxy putty that is under $10 and available at a lot of hardware stores. My towns little local ACE hardware store carries it. If I remember your chip damage accurately enough, I don't think you would have to do much more than just opening that area up a tad more with a Dremel motor tool or possibly just coarse sand paper till it is a bit hollow or sloped in like looking into a spoon, then after cleaning out the dust, just mix 50-50 the PC-11 putty's two parts and apply it to the chipped area, cover with clear packing tape to make it flush to the hull and let cure. If necessary do two coats. You can buy PC-11 in white so the repair won't be that noticeable and if you want to match it to the gel coat, then a touch of white gel coat repair could be applied on top, sanded then polished to blend it into the rest of the hull. If you go this route all you need is the package showing in the lower left of the following link.

http://www.pcepoxy.com/datasheets/04pc11front.htm

I did exactly this last fall on several of the older rowing shells in my son's local crew club's fleet with very good success. Even on some hulls that had holes going into the honeycomb cores as I couldn't access them from the inside to put a glass patch on them from the inside. This spring I have to figure out how to re-attach one of the bows that was snapped off in a collision. A low to no budget club with lots of opportunities to learn boat repairing skills.

Scott

[Brian Nystrom]

Hi Al,

Try looking at Brian Nystroms web site. I believe he has some good instructions on repair of glass/gel coat. It's not hard to do.

Kent

My Webshots albums are at: http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom-reg

[alcoons]

Thanks for all the great tips and resources. Now I can ruin my boat frequently without worry.

Al

[alcoons]

I am thinking of working outside and moving the boat into the garage (perhaps with space heater to raise the temperature) for curing.

Lots of warnings on the gelcoat cans. If I work outside, will a cheap dust mask from the hardware store be sufficient? Or are the warnings overblown and nothing is needed applying and sanding gelcoat outside? I certainly remember getting dizzy fiber-glassing inside my white-water kayak back in the 19th century, but this is just gelcoat on the keel.

[Suz]

I am thinking of working outside and moving the boat into the garage (perhaps with space heater to raise the temperature) for curing.

Lots of warnings on the gelcoat cans. If I work outside, will a cheap dust mask from the hardware store be sufficient? Or are the warnings overblown and nothing is needed applying and sanding gelcoat outside? I certainly remember getting dizzy fiber-glassing inside my white-water kayak back in the 19th century, but this is just gelcoat on the keel.

If I was working outside, I would just use a dust mask and gloves.

Suz

[Brian Nystrom]

I am thinking of working outside and moving the boat into the garage (perhaps with space heater to raise the temperature) for curing.

You really want the temp to be above 70 degrees for curing and higher is better. Heaters or worklights are fine for raising the temperature locally.

Lots of warnings on the gelcoat cans. If I work outside, will a cheap dust mask from the hardware store be sufficient? Or are the warnings overblown and nothing is needed applying and sanding gelcoat outside?

The fumes are not an issue when working outside and if you're wet sanding, dust is not an issue, either. I don't believe in cheap dust masks, as they let the most dangerous particles through while providing the illusion of protection. When working with dusty materials, I wear a good quality particle respirator rated to 1 micron or less.

[subaruguru]

You really want the temp to be above 70 degrees for curing and higher is better. Heaters or worklights are fine for raising the temperature locally.

The fumes are not an issue when working outside and if you're wet sanding, dust is not an issue, either. I don't believe in cheap dust masks, as they let the most dangerous particles through while providing the illusion of protection. When working with dusty materials, I wear a good quality particle respirator rated to 1 micron or less.

Well said. Relax and have fun, Al. Wait til you hear about my flying Cetus!

Guess both our daydreams of $10k resale are quashed, eh?