Fibreglass repair????

[throbley]

Hi, can anybody help?
I have just bought my first boat, a 17ft dorsett catalina.
she is fibreglass and at some point in it's past it has had some small holes in the roof, some one has tried to repair this by putting a new skin of fibreglass over the whole roof.

the new skin is now moving and cracking the paint and is no-longer attached to the original roof apart from in the odd spot.

i plan to remove this skin and just repair the original roof, like i said they are only small holes about 15mm (3/4 in)

I have never done fibreglassing before and would welcome any advice on how to do this.

Thanks
Tom

 

[oops!]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

hi....welcome to iboats

the repair most likely failed because of bad surface prep.

post pics and we will walk you right thru the repair.

oh....by the way.....get comfortable with your grinder .

 

[throbley]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

Thank you for reply... i'll post some photo's soon, poss tomorrow, getting dark now.

Thanks
Tom

 

[oops!]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

dark....where are you?

 

[throbley]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

Essex, England

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

Hello m8..

Ive been keeping an eye on this thread .. but It seems to have gone cold.

Ok .. first off Im sure the Glass that has failed was simple finish cloth ( no good for repairs ).

From what you say with your 3/4" holes I would do the following..

1. Back tape the hole from underside if possible.
2. dish out a few layers of glass about 2-3" round at the holes.
3. fill Just the HOLE (smooth) with poly filler of some kind.
4. let cure then wet out a few small pieces of fiberglass mat. ( untill flat with your deck ).
5. when hardened .. block sand till smooth and coat with whatever you have in mind for a finish ( paint or Gel ).

I dont know the reason for reglassing the whole deck .. If you could tell us your reasoning.

Aye..pics please

YD.

 

[throbley]

Re: Fibreglass repair????

Hi, thanks for all the advice,

I don't know the reason for reglassing the whole roof, i didn't do it, that was the previous owner.

I have removed the new skin now and boy what a mess, the fibreglass is still soft so my guess is not enough resin, and it looks as if it was put on as a big sheet, then to fix it on it looks like they have just poured loads of resin onto the old roof and then placed the new glass on top.

i've now sanded off all the resin and am nearly ready to repair all the little holes, then i'm going to sand the rest of the boat before i re-paint it.
the top coat of paint you can rub off with a little effort with your finger, so i'm rubbing it down to the gel coat and hoping to do a decent paint job.

Advice on types of paints to use.....

not sure how to add pics on here.

Thanks Tom