Fiberglass Repair and Finish Restoration

[jam3086]

I just bought a 1998 Astro bass boat that has a nice 2 inch diameter hole in the underside of the hull. There are also scratches along the underside from the same stump that made the hole that are slightly into the fiberglass, but do not pose any leak threat at the moment. Because of this and time reasons, I am only worried about the puncture. I cannot access the upperside of the hole, so that kinda makes this slightly more complicated.
I know there are a number of books and articles on fiberglass repair out there, but I'm asking if anyone can just outline the basic steps to fix this kind of damage. I'll deal with all of the details later. By the way, this may be a stupid question, but I am really anxious to see how this boat performs in the water, and don't have much time because of school to fix this right away. Is there any type of tape, like duct tape, that I can put over the hole so I can make a short run in a lake to test it out? Anything that wouldn't rip off in speeds around 50 mph?
One last thing: The previous owner seems to have left the boat sitting in the sun for extended periods of time. The clear coat has worn down to the metal flakes in some places. I talked to a guy that does boat repair, and he told me that in all likelyhood, this paint job is done for. Does anyone have any tips to make this paint job look at least a little better? Possibly some light sanding and a few coats of wax? Thanks for the help.

 

[oops!]

Re: Fiberglass Repair and Finish Restoration

hi....welcome to i boats.......


uh....first of all.....no....no ....and no !

dont wanna seem negitave.....but at fifty miles an hour....there is no tape i would trust......tuck tape will work for a little while at low speeds....but do not trust your life on it.

the hole must be repaired from the inside.....you can do it from the out side...but there will allys be a nasty bump in the spot.

once metal flake is exposed...there is no way to bring it back.....this is why just about all metal flake paint is repainted.

you will need to get at the inner hull to fix the hole....thats the first thing.....
cut out the broken area......feather back the edge so the new glass will have a good area to adhere to......do this with theo oiutside of the hull as well.

then on the out side tuck tape over the hole....when you tape it....tape some wax paper to the out side......that will give you the shape of the hull and a release agent for the glass you will add.......after you ve ground ...feathered ....backed...and cleaned the area with aceitone.....cut a peice of csm and using resin....(poly or epoxy)...apply the csm to the hole with a small overlap...then add the roving....repeat each 2 peices of matt/cloth the same size...but the next set...a little bigger......if you use a biax product....3 layers are all you need......

after thats cured....peel off the tape and the wax paper on the outside and add one layer of csm...then a light finishing cloth to the outside.....then sand flat.....and finish with paint of choice....

read the hull extension thread.....the extension is just basically a big hole in the boat....the arborite mold....is basically your waxed paper.....its a lot bigger....but the repair is basically the came

hope that helps
cheers
oops