Fiberglass Repair

S

Swede

New Member
The good news...the 1966 boat I bought last week only weights 158 pounds!
(My wife and I must be getting old, moving this thing feels like it is 200) The bad news.....previous owner dropped it in his trailer a punched a hole in the keel about 3/4 of the way aft. The hole is square and about 2 inches a side. The question is as I understand the process....fiberglass resin will not bond well to gelcoat so do I have to sand away all the gelcoat layer surrounding the hole (about 4 inches square for fiberglass overlap) to get a good fiberglass bond, and then re-gelcoat......or is there some other materials and process suitable for repairing a hole of this size? All advice welcomed. John
 
Interesting rumor. Buy your self a fiberglass repair book for starters. You'll find out quickly gelcoat is fiberglass. The incompatability in the patching game is gelcoat over epoxy. Even that can be done but not as good a bond as gelcoat over fiberglass.

Your hole is punched into the keelson that half round rib down the center of the hull? That's the backbone of the hull and needs more attention than sanding away at the surface and filling. With an impact like that you probably want to get a look from the inside to see what the extent of the damage is. I could speculate alot any chance you can put up a photo?
 
Thanks Dan, the rumour stems from the fiberglass repair kit's instructions I'm afraid....it advises all the gelcoat sanding in order for the fiberglass webbing patch to overlap on all sides with the pre-existing fiberglass "core" (I'd guess that is what you might call it). Yes, it is holed right in the center on the flat of the keel, rear-center foam piece is underneath the hole. I can probably produce some photo in a couple of days. My thought was to insert a cut piece of light wood to serve as a support/former for the patch fiberglass cloth, to retain the same outline of the keel. What would you use for adhesive to attach that to the styrofoam? The boat has not been in the water since the past owner holed it last summer. John
 
Got it. I read your comment as thinking the materials were incompatible. Gelcoat is a cosmetic resin finish and has no glass fibers for reinforcement. I see what they are saying, get down to the glass fiber layers to tie into and bridge the gap.

I wonder if an impact that punched such a hole caused the structural layers to split apart in a bigger circle.
 
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