Question about repairing toe rail and hull

Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
An area of visible damage on Avalon is on her starboard toe rail and hull. I'm not sure if the toe rail damage is from an impact, or just wear and tear and exposure to the elements, but I'd like to repair it. Similarly, I'd also like to clean up the areas of cracked paint (gelcoat?) on the hull and the gray scuff from whatever a PO ran into. (I tried to take off that gray scuff with soap and water, but no go.)

I had the bottom repainted this fall, but I believe we can assume everything about the waterline is original.

I don't know much about this type of repair work, so I was hoping someone could give me some starting points and I can go research the rest. The first two photos are of the same area of damage, just from different angles. The third is the hull damage and scuff.

IMG_0148.png

IMG_0533.png

IMG_0534.png

Thanks!

- Andre
 
Apr 11, 2017
571
Catalina C22 Solomon's Island, MD
I'm guessing it might be a matter of sanding it back to bare fiberglass, and checking to see if there are any cracks in the glass. It could just be an adhesion problem, with watever paint/gelcoat is applied. After that, either re-gelcoat, or paint. I caution that I really know nothing in this area - but there should be some similar info in the archives of a general sailing/repair forum. Good luck - I'd like to hear the correct answer too.
 
Jun 25, 2004
1,108
Corsair F24 Mk1 003 San Francisco Bay, CA
The original finish was gelcoat. That area appears to have been repaired, but it's not clear to me whether it was refinished with paint or gelcoat. How does the finished texture there compare with the same area on the other side?

The texture of the finish in the pictures is very rough, like it was applied in a thick coat with a brush (which suggests to me that it could be gelcoat). It also appears to be lifting from the substrate.

It's also not clear to me what the orange layer is. Putty that was used to fair the repair?

if this is a limited area of repaired damage, you could de-waxit, sand off the repaired area down to original substrate, repair any damaged laminate, fair as necessary with marine putty, and then refinish with gelcoat, then wet sand it to a gloss (to match the rest of the hull). That's a pretty labor intensive job, and requires a bit of skill and experience to get a near-professional result. (But it would be a learning experience for you!)

If the whole hull is bumpy like that, it would be a big job to get good cosmetic results everywhere. I'd patch just the worst area that looks bad at 10 feet, so I didn't have to see it every time I looked at the boat.:)
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
@DrJudyB - thank you for all the guidance and feedback.

I'd patch just the worst area that looks bad at 10 feet, so I didn't have to see it every time I looked at the boat.
I think you've captured my feelings exactly. :biggrin:

requires a bit of skill and experience to get a near-professional result.
I can say with absolute confidence that I have neither! But I'm willing to learn and fail and learn from the failure, so I'm going to try the sanding / fairing / gelcoat route. I'll report back once it's warm enough here to actually tackle this project.

Thanks!
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
It looks exactly as DrJudyB described it, to me. The nice thing about this kind of work is, you can't screw it up. It is all repairable and re-repairable. If you aren't happy with the results, sand it back down and start over.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 

Grotto

.
Feb 18, 2018
273
Catalina 22 Wilmington
It looks exactly as DrJudyB described it, to me. The nice thing about this kind of work is, you can't screw it up. It is all repairable and re-repairable. If you aren't happy with the results, sand it back down and start over.

-Will (Dragonfly)
Dude..... sooo much sanding I think 3/4 of a gallon of fairing compound is now dust in my garage.
 

greg_m

.
May 23, 2017
692
Catalina Jaguar 22 Simons Town
Just sand it off, fair it and repaint it.... sound so quick and easy when you type it! Take a look at the early posts in my south african catalina 22 thread... it is one helluva lot of work = especially if you have to go back to original fiberglass laminate to remove the PO shoddy work.

In my case old crazing original gel coat was just sprayed over with auto body spray filler and then painted over. This procuded a very similar problem to what I see in your hull photo... covering up old crap without sorting out the old crap... if you get my drift!

The drudgery of fairing and sanding and repeat turned me into a "I want it done properly the first time" kind of repair artist! So my recommendation is do whatever repairs you get up to... to the extreme best of your abilities so you know you will be happy and it will last and not have to be redone! No rush jobs because they bite... financially and physically in terms of time and effort.

Otherwise as the ISM says = "Plan what you do, do what you plan and stay safe!"
 

Grotto

.
Feb 18, 2018
273
Catalina 22 Wilmington
The original finish was gelcoat. That area appears to have been repaired, but it's not clear to me whether it was refinished with paint or gelcoat. How does the finished texture there compare with the same area on the other side?

The texture of the finish in the pictures is very rough, like it was applied in a thick coat with a brush (which suggests to me that it could be gelcoat). It also appears to be lifting from the substrate.

It's also not clear to me what the orange layer is. Putty that was used to fair the repair?

if this is a limited area of repaired damage, you could de-waxit, sand off the repaired area down to original substrate, repair any damaged laminate, fair as necessary with marine putty, and then refinish with gelcoat, then wet sand it to a gloss (to match the rest of the hull). That's a pretty labor intensive job, and requires a bit of skill and experience to get a near-professional result. (But it would be a learning experience for you!)

If the whole hull is bumpy like that, it would be a big job to get good cosmetic results everywhere. I'd patch just the worst area that looks bad at 10 feet, so I didn't have to see it every time I looked at the boat.:)
Lol I often say I am doing a 30 yard refit, make it safe and look good at 30 yards!!!
 
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AaronD

.
Aug 10, 2014
723
Catalina 22 9874 Newberg, OR / Olympia, WA
Just sand it off, fair it and repaint it.... sound so quick and easy when you type it! Take a look at the early posts in my south african catalina 22 thread... it is one helluva lot of work = especially if you have to go back to original fiberglass laminate to remove the PO shoddy work.

In my case old crazing original gel coat was just sprayed over with auto body spray filler and then painted over. This procuded a very similar problem to what I see in your hull photo... covering up old crap without sorting out the old crap... if you get my drift!

The drudgery of fairing and sanding and repeat turned me into a "I want it done properly the first time" kind of repair artist! So my recommendation is do whatever repairs you get up to... to the extreme best of your abilities so you know you will be happy and it will last and not have to be redone! No rush jobs because they bite... financially and physically in terms of time and effort.

Otherwise as the ISM says = "Plan what you do, do what you plan and stay safe!"
@AndreInPortland : And then when you learn how to make gelcoat look good, I can try to bribe you to drive out here to wine country again to show me. :)
 
Mar 31, 2019
64
Catalina 22 12640 Rose City Yacht Club
@AaronD: Hah, it doesn't take much of a bribe to get me out to wine country. It's far less likely I'll actually be proficient in making gelcoat look good, but I'll let you know if a miracle occurs! :p
 
Sep 30, 2013
3,538
1988 Catalina 22 North Florida
As a carpenter in my early youth, we had several expressions we used when an imperfection was deemed acceptable.

"MY grandmaw ain't gonna live in it!" (we did most of our work in retirement areas)

"Can't see it from MY house!"

And my personal favorite: "It'll be a whorehouse before it's a church!" ;)
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
As a carpenter in my early youth, we had several expressions we used when an imperfection was deemed acceptable.

"MY grandmaw ain't gonna live in it!" (we did most of our work in retirement areas)

"Can't see it from MY house!"

And my personal favorite: "It'll be a whorehouse before it's a church!" ;)
In Maine I learned, "Putty and paint will make er' what she ain't".
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Another one I learned from Clark, "Good enough for who it's for."
Said mostly when doing your own repair work.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Dec 5, 2011
550
Catalina Catalina 22 13632 Phenix City
One more from my late best friend who was building his own house: "Just nail it.........it ain't a piano."
 
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