Dagger Board trunk repair

[ylojelo]

My daughter ran aground and split the trunk on our '73 Sunfish. The way I realized it was when I I tried to lift it to drain to drain it, and when I did, it took minutes to empty. There was also a crack in the transom that I repaired at the same time. I think the wave action on the hull actually sucks water into it.

I already had an inspection port on deck, but this repair required another.

I worried needlessly about hitting the trunk with the saw,. but as you can see, there is about 3" of space.

here you can see the crack. Its the bright part because I'm shining the light through from behind.

Here it is normally lit.

Too messy to take photos during the glassing part, but here it is after. I'm using the West Marine repair kit.

Here is the damage from the other side, already glssed from the inside.

Using PC-11 paste epoxy (http://www.pcepoxy.com/our-products/paste-epoxies/pc-11.php), I patched up the outside. This stuff is like roofing repair tar, really sticky. Instead of having to try to sand inside the slot, after applying it I flattened it down with wax paper to make it smooth and left it there overnight. I also used it to fill up all other dings and gouges in the hull.

 

[Geophizz]

Looks good!

 

[ylojelo]

Thanks. I'll get a final photo of the inspection port installed. This time I used rivets instead of screws, and I found the rivets to be faster & easier.

 

[brianZ71]

Awesome writeup!

 

[douglas_zargham]

wow - great photos in a simple progression - too cool

i'm taking on water from a more minor fracture in the same area - it seems worth the effort now that i've seen you your simple steps

with what and how did you finish the paste epoxy on the daggerboard side of the trunk?

 

[ylojelo]

with what and how did you finish the paste epoxy on the daggerboard side of the trunk?

other than smoothing it out using the wax paper, nothing. I'll need to sand to smooth out some rough spots, but that will be it. I won't bother painting it, I don't mind the black and not much UV light will make it into the slot. The other spots I did aren't under a lot of stress so I'm not going to worry about those either. I'll have to check, but I may have use PC-7 by mistake (I have both and meant to use PC-11)

I also had to repair the daggerboard itself. From the damage, I can tell she had it in backwards. I cut out the mashed wood fibers with a utility knife, filled it with interior/exterior wood putty, stained it with whatever I had, and varnished over it.

 

[Sunfish65]

I have 2 seperate areas in my daggerboard trunk where it looks like the gelcoat has chipped off but not all the way through. They are about the size of a quarter each. Also where the deck meets the daggerboard slot, the inside is a little rough there all the way around. Should I fill these? Will these cause leaks?

 

[L&VW]

Good question, I see a lot of those—and much bigger than "quarter-sized"...

 

[ylojelo]

I don't know. I figured I was there with epoxy so I might as well fill them.