Bad day on the water...

ems3796

Member
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Unfortunately the other day while racing in about 15-20 knots of breeze, I was involved in an incident at a windward mark rounding. Essentially I was sandwiched between a 420 and a laser bow, and as both are harder than the hull of my laser, serious damage resulted (see image).

Screen Shot 2012-06-30 at 9.07.50 PM.png


Any suggestions as to a repair? Is it even worth it? I have talked to a few people who have fiberglass experience and they have said that it is a $1200+ repair, possibly much more if I want it done well, or of course I could attempt to do it myself if I can find the time. It was a sad day, and I would really hate to lose the boat. Luckily I have another boat to sail in the meantime, but (as I have posted in the wanted section) if I choose not to repair the hull I'll be looking for a similar (mid 1990's era) hull in pretty good condition that is not horribly expensive. This was a good boat, and I've had some great times sailing over the years, hopefully the hull can be saved, or if not replaced so I can stay out on the water. Thanks, and hopefully no one here will have to experience this kind of damage.
 
Wow, that is quite a big hole and a certainly a difficult fix! I'm sure it can be fixed but how much will it cost is the question, I'd guess over $1000 US, it will probably be a better investment to pick up a new hull, especially if you're racing

On the other hand, plenty of sailors fix worse problems than that, be sure to consult with a local professional if you DIY

Where are you located?
 
I am located in Connecticut, Indian Harbor Yacht Club to be more specific (quite near you by the looks of it). I'll probably end up looking for another hull, and either keep this one for an eventual project, or sell it dirt cheap to someone who would like to do the repair and have it as a project boat. A coach of mine has already offered me $100, which at the moment seems like quite a good offer.
 
Estimate what the boat is worth, get an estimate on the repair, sell it for around the price of the estimated worth - repair cost
 
Do you have insurance? If you were not in the wrong, you could probably claim the cost of the repair off the other boat's insurer (3rd party cover). This much damage is a professional repair, so will be expensive.
 
That would be considered totaled by any insurance company. When someone rear ended my boat on my trailer it ended up with a bunch of scratches on the bottom, and a couple chunks out of the gel coat at the back. Nothing structural or through the glass though. Estimate to fix was $2600. Insurance totaled it, paid out $3000, and I bought it back for $900. I did a quickie patch job on the major damage and sail it still. Yours would be a LOT more expensive. Sucks, but if there's no insurance I'd take that $100 and start looking for a new hull.
 
Screen%20Shot%202012-06-30%20at%209.07.50%20PM.png
Unfortunately the other day while racing in about 15-20 knots of breeze, I was involved in an incident at a windward mark rounding. Essentially I was sandwiched between a 420 and a laser bow, and as both are harder than the hull of my laser, serious damage resulted (see image).

View attachment 9593

Any suggestions as to a repair? Is it even worth it? I have talked to a few people who have fiberglass experience and they have said that it is a $1200+ repair, possibly much more if I want it done well, or of course I could attempt to do it myself if I can find the time. It was a sad day, and I would really hate to lose the boat. Luckily I have another boat to sail in the meantime, but (as I have posted in the wanted section) if I choose not to repair the hull I'll be looking for a similar (mid 1990's era) hull in pretty good condition that is not horribly expensive. This was a good boat, and I've had some great times sailing over the years, hopefully the hull can be saved, or if not replaced so I can stay out on the water. Thanks, and hopefully no one here will have to experience this kind of damage.

Check out this video:
 
Check your boat insurance and check theirs too.

If the accident was not your fault claim off them and you may end up getting a new hull out of it.

Here in the UK most decent racing policies for the Laser have 'new for old' cover so if your hull gets totalled then you get a new one. Not sure what the situation is like over your side of the pond though.
 
Very interesting video, could definitely be applied to my damage. Unfortunately, no insurance, so that is not really an option. Still trying to figure out a plan, but in the meantime also trying to get out on the water. Thanks for the ideas and responses.
 
Here goes...

If you have the right materials and know how...The repair on this boat is actualy easier to accomplish than on one without the embedded centennial scrim. The clear over the scrim is easier to match and blend than a color...especially an old color.
I did a couple back when those boats were new and five chances in six says I have some of the right material to fix your toy. ( The scrim came in six pieces and I did one red boat and one blue boat.)
You are in Connecticut...right by Rhode Island where the boats were built. Perhaps somebody up there has some of teh original material and would love to show off.
The mentioned repair price is appropriate and if the boat has had a long hard life, it probably is not worth fixing as you could probably find a sweetheart hull deal somewhere if you shop hard.

A butt ugly functional and durable repair could be accomplished in a couple hours with less than $50 of materials.
 
its a pretty easy repair just time consuming that video posted by robert m and laser xd is sort of ok i guess but not the way i would do it or indeed any boat builder/ repairer i would hope not anyway they should know better i would not wash the boat with water your going to get the fibreglass wet clean it with acitone i would have then cut away all of the dead stuff all the stuff that has turned white then i would have layed up a patch larger than the hole on a piece of ldpe bag on a curved part of the boat simular to that of the damaged area wait for it to dry wave a hair dryer over it just helps it along a bit when it has dried use a few pan head screws in it to tie the string to so you dont end up with bits of string that soak up water stuck in your boat i would have then used a dremel to sand back a 1" perimiter all the way around the repair site with the first half inch being wafer thin and the second half inch being just thin enough to get two layers of fibreglass matt over the top flush to the origeonal level and then i would have then layed up the whole area with fibreglass and epoxy to the origeonal thickness. now the easy bit gelcoat yours has two colours first mask off the two sections exactily on the line of the colour change not half a milimeter below or above stick masking tape to the above part of the line (in the red section) and build it up with layers of masking tape to thickness then apply your grey gelcoat dawn grey i think then peel off the masking tape while its still wet and wait for it to dry then do your red and then wet and dry it back and cut and polish it like any other repair. for your red colour just mix pigment into white gelcoat untill it looks like the right colour then put a blob on the side of your boat and put a piece of sellotape over it and push out the air check the colour again if it looks right peel it back and further check the colour if its righ then add catalyst and apply it if at any stage it does not apply more white gel or red pigment or sometimes mix in a different shade of gelcoat or the tineyest amount of another colour of pigment to take it closer to the correct colour. if you get stuck you can message me ind ill get back to you asap:)
 
Thank you all for the advice and support. A friend of mine works in the boat building industry and has much experience dealing with this kind of stuff, and I will show him these posts and that video to see if they offer him anything new. He has offered to help me repair the boat, and we will probably do the aforementioned functional repair, and I may decide to gelcoat it (depends on the time involved). As for who was at fault, it was an interesting rules situation that I would be happy to describe if anyone is interested.
 

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