Restoring an old hull

N

Ninzel

New Member
Hi everyone,

Recently I decided to get back into sailing after a 10-year break and thought that getting into lasers would be the way to go. As a result, I have managed to get my hands on a "venerable" hull with some pretty good quality spars/sail/foils/lines. The hull is number 70095 and it is a lovely canary yellow (Australian Gold my friend!), well at least on the side that hasn't been exposed to the sun for the last five years from leaning up against a fence! The exposed side is more of a faded powder yellow... but I'm sure with a little TLC I'll be able to bring here back to her former glory!

The biggest problem as I see it at the moment is a dent/crack/hole in the starboard railing that is evidently not watertight. It therefore seems that I'm about to get my first practice at fibreglass repair! Any advice is welcome, but the first thing I'm intending to do is start cutting out the damaged area in order to ascertain the extent, ie whether it goes right through the core or what. I'll keep this thread posted as work progresses!

deck.jpg

hole1.jpg

gelcoatcracks.jpg
 
she looks in similar condition to the hull i've just about finished (and better than the previous one i did!) - shouldn't cause you too much trouble :)
good luck!

edit: i fixed dents/holes like that with epoxy filler, only used glass for bigger sections...
 
loz said:
i fixed dents/holes like that with epoxy filler, only used glass for bigger sections...
Click to expand...
I was going to make the same comment. That ding in the rail looks almost small enough to just fill in with some thickened epoxy. Maybe a small glass patch.

I would go slowly before chopping/grinding out any big areas. The big thing to check is the bond between the hull and deck. If there's a problem there, you can usually fix it by opening up the gap (slightly) by working something like a narrow screwdriver into the section that's not bonded and inject some epoxy up into the gap.

Let us know what you find!

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
Thanks for your replies!

I rapidly discovered the amazing benefits of a Dremel (well the A$50 equivalent anyway!) for removing dead fibreglass. I removed the soft fibre glass outer layer, did a bit of filling with Platibond (epoxy filler), and then reapplied new fibreglass to the repair. I under-catalysed a second layer of FRP so I'm now waiting a couple of days for it to cure before applying a layer of "gelcoat repair putty". I'll post pictures in the next couple of days!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top