Our 67 O'day mariner is certainly a labor of love. every year we do something new in the repair/refurb process. It came to our attention near the end of last summer that some of what we thought were hairline cracks in bow gelcoat went deeper than that. We actually have cracking through the fiberglass. We obviously need to repair this. Anybody have any suggestions as to procedure? After we are done with the fiberglass repair is there any way that our boat won't look like a frankenstein? Please check out these pictures of the cracks: http://www.henryhey.com/cracks.html Thanks so much, h. hey - montauk - oday mariner
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Jim willis
This needs fixing fast!
The picture appears to show the deck coming unfastened from the hull! Hopefully the attachment also included some sort of fastener/through bolt. If it were my boat I would use a dremel tool to grind down into some of this area and see how deep the cracks go. If (as it appears) you need to redo completely, then dremel the whole seam out in v shape sections, with the edge tapering our onto the surface sections (not all at once to make things worse and repair with glass fiber laminate. I would probably use polyester resin to minimize any compatability problems. Then smooth with something like marine tex. IDEALLY YOU SHOULD ALSO LAMINATE FROM INSIDE IF YOU CAN GET TO IT! Finally regelcoat (actually very easy) wet sand, compound, buff and wax. You should be able to color match and blend. ALternatively you could finish with a good polyurethane (would recommend a two part). The repair should be completely invisible if carefully done. i would avoid rough water until this job is completely done. More details, especially on color matcning etc are permanently posted (Fiberglas Trilogy #2) in the gelcoat and plastics forum on this site. Hope this is some help Jim Willis
The picture appears to show the deck coming unfastened from the hull! Hopefully the attachment also included some sort of fastener/through bolt. If it were my boat I would use a dremel tool to grind down into some of this area and see how deep the cracks go. If (as it appears) you need to redo completely, then dremel the whole seam out in v shape sections, with the edge tapering our onto the surface sections (not all at once to make things worse and repair with glass fiber laminate. I would probably use polyester resin to minimize any compatability problems. Then smooth with something like marine tex. IDEALLY YOU SHOULD ALSO LAMINATE FROM INSIDE IF YOU CAN GET TO IT! Finally regelcoat (actually very easy) wet sand, compound, buff and wax. You should be able to color match and blend. ALternatively you could finish with a good polyurethane (would recommend a two part). The repair should be completely invisible if carefully done. i would avoid rough water until this job is completely done. More details, especially on color matcning etc are permanently posted (Fiberglas Trilogy #2) in the gelcoat and plastics forum on this site. Hope this is some help Jim Willis
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Gord May
Cracked!
As Jim said, this needs fixing fast! The photo's seen to indicate that the crack is at the toe rail, just above the hull-deck joint, or am I wrong? Jim suggests using Polyester resin to avoide compatability problems. While your hull is (almost certainly) laid /w polyester, Epoxy or Vinylester resin repairs will provide far superior perfomance. Epoxy can be successfully used over Poly', but not so the reverse. I'd be carefull about over heating the FRG, when grinding out (dremmel). I'd also watch out for a wood core within the molded-in toe rail lip. This is serious dammage - your boat is coming apart!!! "West System" offers good repair advice, as does 3M. (url)www.westsystem.com(/url) (url)www.mmm.com(/url) Regards, Gord
As Jim said, this needs fixing fast! The photo's seen to indicate that the crack is at the toe rail, just above the hull-deck joint, or am I wrong? Jim suggests using Polyester resin to avoide compatability problems. While your hull is (almost certainly) laid /w polyester, Epoxy or Vinylester resin repairs will provide far superior perfomance. Epoxy can be successfully used over Poly', but not so the reverse. I'd be carefull about over heating the FRG, when grinding out (dremmel). I'd also watch out for a wood core within the molded-in toe rail lip. This is serious dammage - your boat is coming apart!!! "West System" offers good repair advice, as does 3M. (url)www.westsystem.com(/url) (url)www.mmm.com(/url) Regards, Gord
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Gord May
Cracked!
As Jim said, this needs fixing fast! The photo's seen to indicate that the crack is at the toe rail, just above the hull-deck joint, or am I wrong? Jim suggests using Polyester resin to avoide compatability problems. While your hull is (almost certainly) laid /w polyester, Epoxy or Vinylester resin repairs will provide far superior perfomance. Epoxy can be successfully used over Poly', but not so the reverse. I'd be carefull about over heating the FRG, when grinding out (dremmel). I'd also watch out for a wood core within the molded-in toe rail lip. This is serious dammage - your boat is coming apart!!! "West System" offers good repair advice, as does 3M. (url)www.westsystem.com(/url) (url)www.mmm.com(/url) Regards, Gord
As Jim said, this needs fixing fast! The photo's seen to indicate that the crack is at the toe rail, just above the hull-deck joint, or am I wrong? Jim suggests using Polyester resin to avoide compatability problems. While your hull is (almost certainly) laid /w polyester, Epoxy or Vinylester resin repairs will provide far superior perfomance. Epoxy can be successfully used over Poly', but not so the reverse. I'd be carefull about over heating the FRG, when grinding out (dremmel). I'd also watch out for a wood core within the molded-in toe rail lip. This is serious dammage - your boat is coming apart!!! "West System" offers good repair advice, as does 3M. (url)www.westsystem.com(/url) (url)www.mmm.com(/url) Regards, Gord
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Don Evans
Cracked Toe Rail
Henry, what your looking at is the molded in toe rail, probably a piece of wood under the fiberglass. The hull deck joint would be a bit lower, under the white vinyl rub rail. Anyways, Jim's advice for repair is sound. My fear is that the wood under that section is wet and punk, and all but gone. You need to open that section of the rail up to explore the damage. I would cut that section of the toe rail off, as far as the damage goes and grind it down to the deck and replace with another piece, then build up the height with a few layers of clock and resin, finish with gelcoat. AS always with an old boat the problem is going to be matching the colour of the faded gelcoat, but by playing with pigments it's doable. Good luck. Don
Henry, what your looking at is the molded in toe rail, probably a piece of wood under the fiberglass. The hull deck joint would be a bit lower, under the white vinyl rub rail. Anyways, Jim's advice for repair is sound. My fear is that the wood under that section is wet and punk, and all but gone. You need to open that section of the rail up to explore the damage. I would cut that section of the toe rail off, as far as the damage goes and grind it down to the deck and replace with another piece, then build up the height with a few layers of clock and resin, finish with gelcoat. AS always with an old boat the problem is going to be matching the colour of the faded gelcoat, but by playing with pigments it's doable. Good luck. Don
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justin - o'day owners' web
Matching pigments
The others have posted sage advice - I'd add a color matching trick. When you're grinding, save some chips. Take them to your local home depot or lowes - they'll have a machine that will analyze the chip's color and give you a pigment match intended for use with their paints. It will give you the pigment ratios you need to get to the right color. Then you can get the pigments for gel coat and make the same stuff. You may need to experiment slightly but you'll be starting in the right place. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
The others have posted sage advice - I'd add a color matching trick. When you're grinding, save some chips. Take them to your local home depot or lowes - they'll have a machine that will analyze the chip's color and give you a pigment match intended for use with their paints. It will give you the pigment ratios you need to get to the right color. Then you can get the pigments for gel coat and make the same stuff. You may need to experiment slightly but you'll be starting in the right place. Justin - O'day Owners' Web
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John Dawson
not cosmetic
The photos look like a serious problem, but you sound like you're hoping its not. I would agree you need to open the crack into a vee shape and rebuild the gap, probably with epoxy. That would rule out applying new gel coat, but it appears to be time for repainting your deck anyway. My real question is, what caused this? From the stress lines around the flange and rubrail, it looks like the gunwale was pounding hard. If the toerail isn't strong enough, you will have to prevent a reoccurance.
The photos look like a serious problem, but you sound like you're hoping its not. I would agree you need to open the crack into a vee shape and rebuild the gap, probably with epoxy. That would rule out applying new gel coat, but it appears to be time for repainting your deck anyway. My real question is, what caused this? From the stress lines around the flange and rubrail, it looks like the gunwale was pounding hard. If the toerail isn't strong enough, you will have to prevent a reoccurance.
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