49208 said:Stop sailing with steel toe shoes
If it were me, I would grind the gel coat off at least 1 inch all around, stop and see if the crack keeps going into the glass or not. If not, re-fill with gel-coat or thickened epoxy and you're done.
If the crack is deep into the glass, I would grind further out, looking for two inches all around and deeper where it's cracked so I could get two layers of mat in there, then cover with gel or thickened epoxy (white marine tex wouldn't be that noticable here - or just paint it for the true quick and dirty repair).
vtgent49 said:...
I'd put a port on the transome deck, a little off center on that side. Then you can reach in, rough sand, and put 2-3 layers of glass over that spot, letting them set up for an hour or so between layers. Have the boat on edge so gravity helps you. Then the inside becomes a rather simple gel coat patch, with the boat on the other edge. Of course, it must be DRY before you glass.
The port is then useful for other thru bolt jobs, etc. ...
vtgent49 said:...This was probably caused by ice forming in the cockpit. ...
vtgent49 said:Hi Janet,
I'd put a port on the transome deck, a little off center on that side.
Al Russell 182797
LooserLu said:Janet,
I'm not sure if the inspectionports of APS (perhaps eqal to such as we get here in Europe from "RWO"?) do need the so called rubber-rings, to "chaulk" the cap of the inspection port to the ring of the inspection port. If they need this ring, make sure, that APS do deliver such a ring with the inspection port that you have ordered.
Good work
LooserLu
gouvernail said:If it does not leak, it probably does not need to be fixed.
The crack could be just in the gelcoat or a top layer of the glass itself.
If it leaks, I agree with putting some glass on the back side of the crack, hte inspection port and all that stuff.
The only way to make the crack disappear short term is to glass both sides and re do the gelcoat. Of course the gelcoat will weather at a different pace and the repair splotch will eventually become visible again.
So...Unless the crack leaks or grows more ..and leaks, I would just go sailing.