uh oh

[CCrane2299]

In my quest to find the leaks in my 88 18.5, I have (I think) found the bulk of them. That being said, I still get water around the keel bolts EVERY day. So tonight I got the flashlight and looked under everything. What I found was the foam that is sprayed under the inner liner (seats) is soaking wet. The water seems to be slowly draining out of it...maybe one day it will completely dry.

Now for the real problem. In my search I noticed the floor on the port side pushed up a little and a crack just in front of the cockpit, inside the cabin. The trailer bunk has obviously pushed it up due to the keel having no support while on the trailer. Near the front of the bunk, inside the boat, there is a place where the fiberglass has crumbled and a place the size of a quarter can be "picked at". It looks like it is cored? I searched and read that they are and are not cored, so I don't know. I went under the boat and found similar damage. The other side of the boat shows no damage. Am I screwed? I am pretty handy, but this seems like it could be goodnight Gracie for this boat. Thanks for any help.

Discouraged.

 

[isaksp00]

Hmm. I am no expert on glass repairs and hull damage; I have only done some cosmetic fixes, rudder gouge repair and strengthening of glass around the bow eye.

However, it is hard to believe you are totally screwed. A photo of the dameged area would help, but could you (ideally) surgically cut out, or grind out, the inner floor above this damage to expose the core (if there is any) and the hull area below it? It seems like you should be able to lay cloth over the inside of the hull, strengthening it and repairing any cracks or holes. Then add core back (some kinda foam) and reglue in the inner piece. If you are careful, it shouldn't even look that bad, though doing the visible gel coat may be tricky. But if you don't care about some minor cosmetic issues, I can't believe it isn't possible to make it seaworthy.

Glass like the West System, where you just pump out some resin and hardener and maybe mix in filler, isn't that hard to use. Selecting the right types of cloth or mat might be tricky, so invest in one of the fiberglass repairing "how to" books (which I don't have, by the way).

Or just pay a yard to do it - but you seem to be pretty resourceful, so I doubt you need to.
Peter

 

[CCrane2299]

Thanks for the advice. I will take a picture or two tonight. I believe the weight of the boat while on the trailer should be substantially borne by the keel, with the bunks only moderately weighted in order to balance the boat on the trailer. I base this on the fact that the keel is approximately 1/3 of the total boat weight, and is a very concentrated area while the bunks cover a broad area. If this is the case, the repair area is less structurally important than I originally thought. If I had supported the keel properly, this might have gone unnoticed. The damage inside is under the seat, so it will look great inside. The boat is to be bottom painted so the underside should look good as well. I am sure the core (if there is one) will have to dry before I can complete the repair. I have read that you should drill holes every 2 inches in the affected area to allow moisture to escape. It occurred to me that If you stuck an absorbent string in each hole the moisture would wick away faster, just like the wicks in a new brick house or a cowboys leather jacket. (can't tell this has been on my mind all day, can ya?) I should be able to arrange it on the trailer (with the keel supported) so the whole side is exposed. Is it important that both sides be bottom painted at one time or can I fix and paint this side, then reverse my set up and do the other side later...maybe weeks later? Lots of questions I know, but I do appreciate the response.
Chris

 

[RobertG-NJ]

As Peter said, I doubt all is lost. For more detail discription & help on the procedures he described, I recomend the books by Don Casey "This Old Boat" and I saw some others in B&N on fiberglass repair where it is all laid out on how to do it. It seems daunting at first, but you learn as you do. In Casey's opinion fiberglass is very forgiving and there isn't much that can't be repaired (unless we are talking crushed and/or in lots of pieces).

As to a cored hull, the 23 isn't so I doubt Hunter would have cored the smaller boat, but who knows.

One of the things I commented on in an earlier post of yours (thinking the boat was a 23) was your trailer didnt have a center steel beam for the keel to rest on like mine does. The 18.5 is remarkably like the 23 except for length & displacement weight and yes the keel does need to rest on it. I hear it is more like 60% - 70% of the weight (2/3). Don't know how you can jack it up. I'll leave that to others to suggest.

You can paint one side at a time if like on mine you can lower the bunks. I use 2 power boat stands on the "Down side". I bought them from West Marine but try and borrow some if you can. It will still be cheaper than having a yard paint it . The power boat are shorter and not angled, but the 23 has a flatish hull at the stern end, the pads angle sufficiently for the bow end and neither have much height from the ground on the trailer.

Lastly, the difficulty of repairing gel-coat is vastly overstated. Like the fiberglass repair once you take the plunge and get familiar (with some learning mistakes of course) it is no harder than painting, it just sets up faster. Do it before it gets hot. Use the unwaxed and buy it by the gallon size, its cheaper by half.

Good luck

 

[RobertG-NJ]

In photos on your other post I can see the 8' 2X4 laid flat across the trailer supporting the front of the keel. Even I can bend 2x4 standing in the middle, so I am sure that keel deflected it, putting more pressure at the bunks, but at least it gave some support and kept it from dropping more.

 

[CCrane2299]

In regard to the keel and the board... The board strapped across the trailer was the keel rest. It is supposed to run length wise with the trailer and the keel at rest will be on top of the board with a trailer crossmember supporting both the board and the keel. It is on my ever increasing list.

If the hull is not cored, I am not scared of it. It is in a good place to fix as far as being inside the cubby holes under the seat/bunk. I can build it up and make it as strong as I need to from the inside. Again, thanks for the replies. I was pretty depressed about it last night. My wife (who doesn't get it yet) "said its just a boat".....silly girl.

 

[CCrane2299]

I think I might have gotten lucky.

Inside storage hole under seat looking aft...crack may be 3 1/2 inches. bulkhead is pulled away from the floor. Someone tried to glue at some point.

Inside storage hole at front of trailer bunk...

Under boat, inside left bunk. It looks like old paint and maybe some of whatever the bunk board is covered in.

I don't think it would even leak. I should be able to do a good repair from inside and just make it pretty underneath. I was really concerned about a wet core, but it is solid fiberglass. If I support the keel most of this should go away. Then I can reinforce and paint. After looking at it a while, I believe the damage is more gelcoat than actual fiberglass.

 

[CCrane2299]

Well, I put my floor jack under the keel with a block of wood between the keel and jack. I jacked the whole boat from the keel. I have read several questions as to whether this could or should be done. I am not sure about the should, but yes it can be done. There were no cracking or creaking sounds. I raised it about an inch off the bunks and could more clearly see the dent in the hull where the bunk had pushed it up. It has been freezing or close to it here for a week and the dent did not get any better for a couple of days. Today it was around 50 degrees and the dent is nearly gone. I think I will reinforce the fiberglass from the inside and then fix the bottom with just a little skim of glass and resin to even it out and make it very smooth again. I moved the keel support board to its proper position on the trailer and when I let the jack down there is not much pressure on the bunks. I bought new bunk and keel rest boards last night, just need some time to put them on. I think she's gonna live!

 

[MrUnix]

The 18.5 is very similar to the H23 and a few other models of that time frame.. and as such, the majority of weight should be resting on the keel, not the bunks. I've heard numbers ranging anywhere from 50-80% of the weight should be on the keel, with the bunks basically just supporting enough to keep it from falling over. From the looks of it, you caught it before things got worse.. a good layer of glass and some paint should take care of it.

Cheers,
Brad

 

[CCrane2299]

Thanks For the encouragement.

Tonight was a VERY productive night. I got the 4 inch grinder and some flapper wheel disks and just started grinding. What looks to be bubble gum in the middle picture above is actually Bondo. Yep, somebody knew. It had been repaired with Bondo from the bottom at some time in the past. What I thought to be a crack in the bottom was just Bondo that was flaking off. I ground it all down to bare glass inside and out. I jacked the boat up a little and put 1ft squares of 1/2" plywood over the posts that support the bunk and the jig sawed out the bunk between the posts. (leaving little pieces of the old bunk to support the plywood) I was able to easily get to the damage. I now have two holes in the hull big enough to stick my four fingers through. It was a little discouraging at first, but now I see where a good repair can be made. I honestly believe it will be better than new. Without question, the gelcoat (both sides) was thicker than the fiberglass. It is hard to believe the glass was as thin as it was. There is no indication of similar damage to the starboard side, so I can see light at the end of the tunnel...also through the bottom of my boat.

Based on what I saw, I think the PO moved the bunk boards out and repaired the damage (poorly) and left the bunks outboard in order to relieve the pressure on that repaired point. I think that moving the bunks out caused the boat to sit lower on the trailer so he removed the keel support. which caused it to flex the hull even worse than when it was first damaged.

When its warm enough, I will tape wax paper to the bottom and repair/reinforce from the inside. Since it is under the seat, it will not be seen. I bought some epoxy spray paint to re-coat the inside of the storage holes over the repair. I will need to fair the bottom with something when I'm done....more research. I had thought about removing ALL the bottom paint and repainting with a hard paint since it will be on the trailer a lot and probably not spend any extended time in the water...maybe a long weekend at most. However, even with the aggressive grinder, the existing paint was pretty tough to remove. My new plan is to sand it smooth with an orbital and repaint with a similar ablative to the current paint. Once the repair is complete, the bottom of the repair faired, and barrier coated, I'll sand everything and grind/fair the keel then paint.

The trailer posts that support the bunks are adjustable. They have been tack welded in place. When the new bunks and keel support are in I will cut the tack welds out and readjust them.

My attitude toward the boat is much improved. It was a great thing to see that it was completely dry inside tonight despite an all day rain/drizzle. My confidence in my own ability to repair this boat is higher now than its been in a few days. I have gathered much info from this site and would like to thank those who have "been there done that" and freely give of their advice. I believe with help from here, I can have a nice boat with a little sweat equity. I did finally unfurl the sail and other than being a little dirty, not bad, it looks fine. The search for an outboard continues, the budget is getting tight. Here's looking forward to some warmer weather, it won't be long now...

 

[CCrane2299]

Well, tomorrow we shall see what kind of fiberglass man I am. It went really well as far as I can tell. I taped up the holes from the bottom with some wax paper backed with smooth cardboard, then laid 4 or 5 layers of glass/resin depending on how much I thought it needed. I can assure you that it is much thicker than it was from the factory. I worked all the air bubble/wrinkles out with the paint brush I used to apply the resin. It looks great. It is a little cool so I expect it will take a while to harden. I now have my fairing compound, barrier coat, and bottom paint at the ready. If the fiberglass works, I'll have plenty of sanding to do in the next couple of weeks.

 

[American Marine and Sail]

The boat is designed so the weight of the boat should be on the keel tray. The bunks are merely supports in essence to keep the boat from tilting sideways. The way I raise the supports is the front first on both sides trying to make sure the boat is sitatued in the center. Then go to the rear and lift up the supports. Then raise the center supports. You got the fiberglass resolved as I see

Crazy Dave Condon

 

[CCrane2299]

You got the fiberglass resolved as I see

Crazy Dave Condon

Apparently, I am a pretty fair fiberglass guy. There are a couple of places where it is still a little tacky but has set up pretty well. I pulled the wax paper off of the bottom and it will take very little work to make it look great. I am looking forward to seeing it after work tomorrow.

I wish I had set up a shore power hook up first, I have been tripping over extension cords for two weeks!

 

[CCrane2299]

The fruits of my labor. As I said in an earlier post...I am too old for this. Think I will find an easy chair for the rest of the day and cover the bunks tomorrow as well as set it back on the trailer.

 

[peptobysmol]

Looks good from here

 

[CCrane2299]

Its getting closer....

 

[isaksp00]

You forgot the water.