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Oh mighty power of the forum.....I come to you with (Also con continuous Wave)
I have decided to replace the rub rail of my 68' 13 sport. Upon removal of the old rail I came across several problem areas (shown in the pictures). I have formulated a plan of attack...a plan that is open to changes/suggestions, comments/words of advice from those with hull repair experience. While I am a fairly handy individual; keep in mind my experience with fiberglass and hull repair is minimal at best.
Plan: Lay a line of 5200 within the entire separation...enough to really get in there and seal the joint without too much excess mess. I will lay a 2x4 or some sort of pressure distributor along the top of the gunwale, clamp it down and allow it to set for about a week. Upon removal of the clamps I will dust the area and clean with acetone. I am debating laying a small strip of fiberglass along the joint to seal and strengthen the repair further. (Probably should be done...however my fiberglassing skills are relatively unknown) Once that has hardened I will sand if necessary, touch up any overlay with the proper color and continue my rub rail install.
Concerns: My fiberglassing knowledge/skills. I am thinking fiberglass mesh (matting is so messy). Is that OK to use? I know nothing of different grades/thicknesses or resins to use. Is the Home Depot repair kit going to cut it?
Plan: My plan here is not as formulated as I would like it to be. I would go forth with the repair mentioned above except there is more damage to this area. The portion of the hull inferior to the hull/deck joint is cracked and loose. I feel with just moderate pressure I could break away a good 4"-5" strip of hull. I could...
A: Continue with the repair mentioned above but add another layer or two of fiberglass...being sure to encompass the entire problem area. OR
B: Break away the loose stuff and screw in some sort of pressure treated/coated wood shaped to fit in the area...Glass over it all and sand it to shape. Paint...then continue with the rub rail install.
Concerns: My fiberglassing knowledge/skills. See above concerns.
Plan: My plan here is to fill the void then continue with the repair as mentioned in the first and second excerpt. There is no structural hull damage in this area as in the second area.
Concern: Other than my fiberglassing knowledge/skills is how to go about filling the void. I have yet to come up with a clever game plan of filling the hole. I am open to ideas.
Any advice....any pearls of wisdom anyone can bestow upon me will be forever appreciated. I am going to be a boat owner for the rest of my life. I need to begin developing my repair/fabrication skills, it is just intimidating starting a project beyond my experience. If things get too ugly I do know a good fiberglass guy.
Grind out the area that is cracked you will want to get it to bare glass about 1" all surrounding the crack. Grind out any loose fiberglass. If the foam looks bad, dig the bad stuff out with a stick or something.
Clean the ground areas with acetone till they are really nice dark green. Use some polyester resin with catalyst and some milled fibers. Mix the resin and hardener (catalyst) according to the directions and add the milled fibers until you get a consistency somewhere between mayo and peanut butter. Cram it in and let it harden.
Once cured, grind out any rough areas or bubbles that have protruded from the repair. you should have a spot that is slightly lower than the surrounding undamaged areas so you can add a filling/fairing compound and shape and sand to uniformity with the rest of the gunnel. Use the search function on the site and search posts on Evercoat and Evercoat tinting agents. Also search Spectrum gel coat. Evercoat makes good filling products that are poly based and compatible with the oem gelcoat product.
Once the filler is faired out its just a matter of color matching. If you are careful you can keep most of this repair under the rubrail.
If you want I can PM you with my email or phone number if this doesn't seem clear. It is easy in concept but hard to understand in words. I wish sometimes that I was better with them.
For the bow I would break out the fractured areas and shape a piece of 15lbs foam, ren board, or balsa wood to fit into the holes and glue it in place it some resin mixed with cabosil. Then finish by covering the area with chopped mat and resin.
I did what you are going through a couple of months ago you check out some of what you will be dealing with on my project page and photobucket. I'm not going to probably make you feel any better when I say that it is going to be a semi major project. Having said that, it has been the easiest part of my on going restoration.
First thing first, before undertaking the project you'll have to be commited to a plan since it's almost summer and you'll be tempted to take a few short cuts. Don't make that mistake (short cuts) because it will serve no purpose of having started the job if it's not going to last past this year.
Secondly, My theory is that if it is already broken you'll have to try real hard to make it worse. Fiberglass work is fairly straight forward it can be just very messy, you be amazed how quickly you teach youself little tricks. Follow the mixture of the resin fairly close but its not an exact science. to much harder is better than not enough but don't get carried away or you will have problems with it bonding. Besure that you sand the area clear of gel coat 40 grit worked very well and gives a good surface for the bond. I like the mat style of glass cloth but you also buy it in a woven sheet. all materials needed can be bought at any automotive store. Besure when ready to lay glass to have everything you need and ready because just when get going in a good routine the resin strats to set up and you don't want to be fumbling around.
Thrid and last, get you a piece of glass ( real glass like a window pane) and practice. make a foot by foot square, then after it has fully cured, then practice working on that piece and you get and idea of what to expect. To me working with fiberglass is not that hard just very time consuming. I've never had any formal training just learned as I went along. You'll never learn until you try. but you've got to have patience. So if you still are interest let us know and tell you exactly what I did step for step tools and other little tricks I learned while doing the job.
1963 13' Sport 50hp Evinrude
Maintaining a level of sanity that is socially acceptable
Quigley, Turpin and others. Thank you very much for your advice. Quigley, If you dont mind to PM me your number I could use all the help I can get. I think I am going to try and tackle this project instead of contracting it off. I'm thinking Sunday will be my day to gather materials and delve into this thing. I'll use this thread to document my progress and get the advice/confidence boost from the pros.
Phil is right. 5200 has no place in this type of repair.
