Hole in fiberglass hull, need repair advice

[Gerald Jarreau]

I have a 19' trailer sailor. I did something stupid. I thought I would snug the boat up to the trailer with the winch, but forgot it was strapped down in the back. The result was that the bow hook-eye ripped right out, and now there is a hole. I bought a fiberglass repair kit but I have never done fiberglass work before and am a little intimidated. I was about to begin when a friend of mine told me of a different way to approach it. He said just use a bigger backing plate and make a stainless steel front plate that has two bends and covers the hole and damage. Then use marine caulk and be done with it.

The above pic shows the extent of the damage.

The pic above shows the old backing plate (to the left). It was so tiny. You can see where I made a 5 inch backing plate. It is on the u-bolt. The plywood is just a filler piece I cut to plug the hole (it's probably too thick still). There is no pic of the front plate, as I haven't made one yet.

Should I attempt the fiberglass repair, and if so, would someone give me an idea of the steps and procedure?
Should I make the front plate and do it the easy way, and if so, any suggestions?

I plan to sail this thing for a few years and sell it, so I definitely will make the thing safe and water-proof.

Thanks for reading!

 

[capta]

If it was my boat, I'd do a proper fiberglass repair jib. From the look of it, you may have to open things up a bit more to encompass the crack on the top. There are plenty of youtube videos on fiber glassing, so rather than ask someone to type all that out, just go watch a few. You'll probably want to watch a couple on gelcoating too, if you want it to look good.

 

[Revv up]

Thes a YouTube channel “ boatworks today” the guy does fibreglass repairs for a living and seems to know what he’s talking about, I’d search through his channel and find out how he would repair it.

 

[Gerald Jarreau]

I have seen some youtube videos and the problem is that it is either some yahoo doing some cosmetic repair or if it is a hole in the hull, it is not in a location such as this. I am under the impression that you must cut out a hole (completely through the core and all) and then lay in circles of glass in ever decreasing sizes until you have completely filled out the patch. Considering this is my first attempt and it is in the bow, this seems like one hell of a job. Correct me if I am wrong about the procedure.

 

[Gerald Jarreau]

Thes a YouTube channel “ boatworks today” the guy does fibreglass repairs for a living and seems to know what he’s talking about, I’d search through his channel and find out how he would repair it.

OK I will check it out.

 

[sail sfbay]

Gerald Jarreau, this youtube video shows how based on the method you proposed in post #4.

repairing large hole in fiberglass boat - Google Search

 

[Hunter216]

It might help if you keep in mind where the loads are during repair. In your case you want to ensure the boweye can resist the “pull” of the winch. If you don’t make it solid you could “pull the cork out of the bottle” again.

The basic idea of repairing any hole is to maximize the bonding area between the old glass and new.

FRP work isn’t that hard. Have a plan, all the materials on hand and keep the amount of mixed resin small enough so that you can work within it’s time limits.Well ventilated, rubber gloves, fire extinguisher nearby etc.

I would recommend doing a small multilayer sample ie not on the boat so that you get a feel for working with it.

 

[shemandr]

I think you have the gist of the method. It's not that hard. It would be much easier on a flat surface. You'll see arguments about whether to fill outside in or from inside out. I would probably do the ladder since the force on the eye will be primarily tension. So that would mean beveling the inside skin aggressively and well into the core. I wouldn't bother with creating a new core. Since you will use epoxy, it will need UV protection with paint or gelcoat. Paint might lead to painting the hull. Maybe I would paint a band-aid on the area and move on with a conversation piece.

 

[Johnb]

The good news is it is above the water line, so yes you want to get it right, but no it is not critical to your safety. One thing I would do for sure - you want to know how the resin is going to harden in the conditions you are working in i.e. the temperatures and humidity in your environment. I would sacrifice some resin and experiment with the mix so you know it is going to harden and how long it will take.
I would not try to match the repair to the rest of the hull. As Andrew says above, once the repair is complete paint the area its own color in a nice symmetrical area and make a feature of it.

 

[Gerald Jarreau]

I did find one pretty good example of the job done on youtube

 

[shemandr]

Yeah that was pretty good. I've might have skipped the fairing twice but it was a good result. BTW I think nearly everyone on this forum has done something equally or even more "Stupid." It's how we learn not to do that.

 

[shemandr]

BTW, if you want to see a master handle epoxy, fillets etc. go to the OffCenterHarbor website and search for "Mastering Epoxy with Russell Brown Part I" and up. I think you get a couple of vids free.

 

[nightowle]

I was in your position a few years back. It seems intimidating at first, but now that I've done similar to what you need to do, I feel like I can tackle almost any fiberglass repair (except hull/keel damage from a grounding!!). It really comes down to grinding and then layering pieces of fiberglass in ever decreasing sized circles. Make sure you use a "barrier coat" like Interlux to seal out any moisture as the last step before gelcoat or top paint. Check out West Systems epoxy guides: Instruction manuals, book, videos & workshops - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

 

[nightowle]

Oh, and you probably know this, but you should find out if your boat was laid up with polyester or epoxy resin and follow suit.

 

[Gerald Jarreau]

Oh, and you probably know this, but you should find out if your boat was laid up with polyester or epoxy resin and follow suit.

OK you got me there. I didn't even know that I needed to know.

 

[Gerald Jarreau]

Another thing is that I am in Louisiana and it is 95 degrees outside and the humidity is always high. I might need some of the 209 hardener, if I want to take my time. Really though this is a $3600 boat I bought off of craigslist and I am not building a clock

I'm thinking I will make use of the west systems kit that I already have, as basic as it is, and buy more stuff when/if i need it.

 

[Rich Stidger]

This repair is right at the stem of th eboat. That is a high stress area. I don't know how far distant the headstay attachment is located but you certainly want to be sure that the overall strength is not compromised.

 

[shemandr]

Real Boat-a-tic. There are always circumstances that limit the ability to achieve a high quality result. And you can always goop it up and hope for the best.

 

[MaryEllaRose]

Catalina Direct sells a bow eye upgrade kit for Catalina 22’s that includes a pre formed stainless steel plate that fits over the bow eye area and also includes backing materials and fiberglass repair stuff. Not cheap but ...

 

[dlochner]

This is a reasonably serious repair. To respond to a couple of comments.

The boat was laid up using either polyester or vinyl ester resin. Hunter would not have spent the money in materials and labor to build this boat with epoxy.

The idea of just putiting a SS plate on the hole is not a good one. The stress on the bow either needs too be distributed into the hull. The plate won't do that.

Andy on Boatworks Today, just released a video about patching a hole in a hull. This is the method you want to use. Basically, grid back the hole to get a 12:1 bevel on both sides of the hole and then lay up glass on both sides of the hull and rebuild the hull. When it is done you will have to put paint or gelcoat on the repair to protect from UV, especially if you use epoxy,

I would use epoxy because it has better secondary bonding properties than polyester resins.