Fiberglass Repair, Crack under stanchion

[Bobbystone]

Hey All,

Anyone have any thoughts / advice on repairing a crack in the glass under the stanchion plate? I had this repaired a year ago, but it didn't hold up so I'm going to give it a try myself. Any help appreciated.

Here are some pics:

 

[25yearslater]

Oh damn that looks awful. Good news is you have access from below. I would grind a twelve to one bevel on both sides of the crack(s) and thicken some West Systems 105 epoxy and lay in several cloth layers to fill the area to it's original thickness. Then go ahead and lay in a few more layers of epoxy/cloth to beef it up. The 12 to one is the recommended taper. If your fiberglass thickness is 1/8" grind out 12/8" or 1&1/2 inch on both sides. Epoxies are amzing in their strength and when coupled with cloth can't be surpassed for their strength often stronger than the original lay up.

 

[emergpa1]

Hey All,

Anyone have any thoughts / advice on repairing a crack in the glass under the stanchion plate? I had this repaired a year ago, but it didn't hold up so I'm going to give it a try myself. Any help appreciated.

Here are some pics:

yes, but first, what type of repair did you do before? i had similar problems in multiple areas, on photo is the area around the chainplate, the other is at the pulpit base. as you can see in my first photo, i tried drying it out with a bunch of holes, aka this old boat rec, otherwise i didn't think that was worth the trouble, second photo is finished product after repair with epoxy, cut out the old, filled it in, built it up, and then painted it.
keith

 

[emergpa1]

Oh damn that looks awful. Good news is you have access from below. I would grind a twelve to one bevel on both sides of the crack(s) and thicken some West Systems 105 epoxy and lay in several cloth layers to fill the area to it's original thickness. Then go ahead and lay in a few more layers of epoxy/cloth to beef it up. The 12 to one is the recommended taper. If your fiberglass thickness is 1/8" grind out 12/8" or 1&1/2 inch on both sides. Epoxies are amzing in their strength and when coupled with cloth can't be surpassed for their strength often stronger than the original lay up.

I don't think you have room there to do the 1 -2 inch tapered grinding for this repair that you can use on more open areas. Also, i think doing a full cut out repair is overkill for that area as you can get a good strong repair by cleaning out the rotted core there and filling it in, not with new balsa core, but with thinkened epoxy. the good news is that the foot plate for the stanchion will cover part of the repair. If i had to do that repair I would use a bent nail, some curved forceps, and a strong vacum to remove as much of the rotted core through the bolt holes as i could from the area, then plug the holes from the bottom and fill in the area with thickened epoxy. I would also scrape out that crack and repair it with epoxy in the usual manner for crack repair. For the interior, i would grind or sand the underside and apply a few layers of wetted out fiberglass cloth to reinforce the area. Then when reattaching the stanchion, i would make a backing plate from plywood that had been cured with epoxy. Overall a pretty simple repair that should be strong.
Details for the surface preparation, mixing epoxy, repairing cracks, and the like can be found in Don Casey's series on deck repair.
keith

 

[gabriel.donnelly]

im doing the same thing...

Although i don't have a crack as far as i can see, but the stanchion is definitely loose and water has gotten in there. Question: after removing the stanchion, cleaning it all out, filling with epoxy, can i drill through the same holes and put the stanchion back Exactly where it was?? Thanks.

Gabriel.

 

[25yearslater]

I think your method would be the best short of the full blown repair I was advocating Keith. In fact that is pretty much the same method I plan to use for the stantion bases this spring minus the backing plate on the inside.

 

[25yearslater]

Although i don't have a crack as far as i can see, but the stanchion is definitely loose and water has gotten in there. Question: after removing the stanchion, cleaning it all out, filling with epoxy, can i drill through the same holes and put the stanchion back Exactly where it was?? Thanks.

Gabriel.

That's the method West Systems details in their manual. It is under hardware bonding and the annulus you are refering to is common practice now.