Repair poor factory fiberglass - advise needed

[flightlead404]

I have two areas on the boat where it appears poor manufacturing processes left a void behind the gelcoat in a sharp radius bend area. One is around the hole in the anchor locker lid for the windlass, the other around the edge of the shower pan. I'll provide pics when able but essentially I need to build the areas back up then glass or gelcoat or something.

Has anyone experienced this? Advice?

 

[quadrille38]

Have had a couple of spots on my 2008 38 where there were significant voids. One was on the starboard side bow near the boot stripe. Over the winter it sucked in creating a birds eye that was about 3 inches in diameter And maybe a quarter of an inch deep. That one was under warranty because the boat wasnt a year old yet. Glass guy ground it out filled it and then repaired the gel coat.

Another one was in the cock pit, port side where the back rest from the seat curves around to the cabin. Gel coat cracked. Had a glass guy repair the gel coat. A year later it was cracked again. This time glass guy said he’d have to grind it out more to see what was back there. When he started he said there was “nothing” back there so was basically just gel coat. He had to grind out a fairly large hole (maybe 10 inches tall and 8 inches across around the curve, layer in glass roving with resin, and then repair the gel coat. Was a fairly extensive repair.

Also in companionway where the cockpit floor curves up to the companionway door.
Have had a few other small gel coat pops due to voids in the glass that I’ve needed to have fixed As well.

Love many things about the boat but glass work and gel coat wasn’t actually one Hunters greatest strengths.

 

[flightlead404]

Any advice on how to repair would be appreciated. I'm not much of an FG guy

 

[Artey1]

Flightlead - go watch boatworks today on youtube. Andy is awesome at explaining how to do all of this. There are also some good readings from the Gougeon Brothers website about many types of repair The Gougeon Brothers On Boat Construction book

But the basics are, for voids like what you are talking about, as Quadrille described it has to be ground out, filled with thickened mixture or layered up with fiberglass depending on the size and depth of the cracking/void, and then gelcoat matched and finished.

 

[quadrille38]

But the basics are, for voids like what you are talking about, as Quadrille described it has to be ground out, filled with thickened mixture or layered up with fiberglass depending on the size and depth of the cracking/void, and then gelcoat matched and finished.

Exactly! The one in the back rest was large enough that I didn’t feel at all confident in my ability to do the extensive glass work on a curve, get the gel coat smooth and have the color match. Our yard has a glass guy who is an absolute artist in his craft and he did an amazing job with the repair.