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Hi All,

I've been reading for a while and think I'm ready to take the plunge. I found a 1967 13.6 with a solid, newer motor. The current owner started the restoration but it still has a long way to go. The hull is solid but the glass is rough. Lots of spiderweb cracks. It looks original to me and the boat was for work, not pleasure. The deck paint looks like it has plenty of mildew and other discoloration.

I've never repaired a fiberglass boat before. Is someone willing to point me toward a previous post that details a full restoration? Alternately, can someone walk me through the steps here? Many thanks!

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I have just about finished my 1968 13 foot whaler. I stripped everything off of the boat and had the entire boat media blasted. It got all the bottom paint off and the interior paint but showed every old patch job or ding. Glad I did it that way but I makes a lot of work. I would only recommend that if you were going to re-gel coat the boat. If you get into the oarlocks I have a picture and info on the inserts in another post.

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NHWHALER13 CHECK SOME (OR ALL) of the products from auroramarine.com
I have used many of their products with great results on fiberglass and inflatables, a lot less expensive than finding a media blaster.

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As wade mentions if you are going to refurbish your boat you need to get all the old finish off if its been painted. Media blasting is a good way to go, a lot faster than sanding and grinding, but more expensive. Then you must repair any damage to the hull, and decide upon painting or re gelcoating. Cleaning products mentioned in the post above won't cut it for an old Whaler. They won't remove spider cracks.

rich

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Binkie is right. Cleaning products clean Media blasting is more money but really not that expensive when you look at the whole picture. I had 5 coats of bottom paint and 4 coats of interior paint and it was only $400 to media blast. If you have spider cracks in the gelcoat there is no cleaning product that is going to fix that.

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I am working on a 22 guardian which had a lot of spider cracks and damage. (no paint topside) I used West System Epoxy for all the repairs. The recommendations i have found for spider cracks call to grind the gel coat and re-build with glass. The spider cracks were so close together i didn't want to grind that much gelcoat. I sanded really good, ground out major cracks, filled and faired then added a few layers of glass cloth with epoxy resin in the really bad areas . I used 2 part polyurethane for the paint . It seems to have turned out well but time will be the true test. There is a web site called Boat Works Today which has really good video's of different boat repairs.

Good Luck!

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Thanks for the help everyone! I've received advice about painting over the spiderweb cracks with a high quality, high build primer. Then painting with high quality paint. Anyone have experience with this method?

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I used high build primer on the exterior. 2 coats of Interlux Epoxy primcote and painted with perfection 2 part poly paint. There was some spider cracks which i ground out the big ones and left some of the small ones. i also read that you can use high build but also read that if you don't repair the damaged gelcoat the cracks will eventually come back. I spent most of the winter researching paint and repairs and could not find if that high build would hold up to spider cracks over time. You probably need about 5 coats of high build if you don't want to do other repairs.

I will keep an eye on the different repairs i have done. I hope to be in the water in the next month!

BTW -I used Pettit Easypozy 2 and the recommended primer on the interior and i liked the Interlux primer much better.

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nh, you got some bad advice as to the high build primer. I hope not from this website. There is no easy way to hide or remove spider cracks. A good orbital sander and 60- 80 grit sandpaper will do the job though but not without alot of time and effort.