Yep, it's "get the boat ready for next season" time - hence the questions... I tend to get quite a bit of water inside the boat, but have never been sure of how. The mast-step seems fine - have tried the "fill it and leave it" test, and the level doesn't go down at all. Also, no other obvious points of ingress. However, have now more closely inspected the bow, where it appears the boat took quite a knock (before I bought it..) and I suspect the seal between the deck and the hull may be damaged.
The underside of the lip of the bow is definitely damaged, small bits of the lip are broken off, and the there are some loose bits of fibreglass also under the lip - still connected, but wobbly - bit like a loose tooth.. There also seems to be some separation between the outer lip (part of the deck?) and inner lip (part of the hull?) - if that makes sense.
There's no damage to the hull itself, and all this is right on the prow - where there's just the flat part of the nose..
Question: how best to repair? Assume I will need to lay boat upside down, I was planning to put a fibreglass gauze inside the lip, and paint with epoxy to seal. Also dribble epoxy between inner and outer lip to secure. Then finish with gelcoat.
Any other suggestions? Boat is old and used for club racing only, so not worried about aesthetics, but would prefer not to hamper my (already limited) chances of winning by having several pints of water swilling around the hull.
Thanks again,
Chris
The underside of the lip of the bow is definitely damaged, small bits of the lip are broken off, and the there are some loose bits of fibreglass also under the lip - still connected, but wobbly - bit like a loose tooth.. There also seems to be some separation between the outer lip (part of the deck?) and inner lip (part of the hull?) - if that makes sense.
There's no damage to the hull itself, and all this is right on the prow - where there's just the flat part of the nose..
Question: how best to repair? Assume I will need to lay boat upside down, I was planning to put a fibreglass gauze inside the lip, and paint with epoxy to seal. Also dribble epoxy between inner and outer lip to secure. Then finish with gelcoat.
Any other suggestions? Boat is old and used for club racing only, so not worried about aesthetics, but would prefer not to hamper my (already limited) chances of winning by having several pints of water swilling around the hull.
Thanks again,
Chris