deck repairs

J

John Gilmour

Member
I'm fixing up an older Laser that has some damage to the deck in various places along the gunwales. It seems that some impacts have broken the top surface of the deck, whatever it is made of, revealing some other core material. My question is, what should I do in these places where the top hard shell has broken?

I have used a file to clear away the broken material. Most of the places are quite small, but a couple are nearly a square inch. For the smaller ones, I thought I would paint over them with a couple of coats of epoxy, and then paint with a one-part poly-urethane paint. For the larger areas, I thought I would apply epoxy and some fiberglass cloth, and then paint.

Thoughts?

John
 
i was thinking about doing something along those lines with a 470. if you are comfortable with doing that then go ahead, but if not then bring it someplace and have them repair it. sure it might cost u some money. but at least u know that its done well and you wont have a problem with it any time soon
 
If the top fiberglass skin is damaged as much as you say (ex. gone), then you need to apply a patch made of resin and fiberglass cloth. Not intrinsically difficult, but it does take some skill to make bond it well, and even more to make it look pretty (I'm at the first level myself).

There are others here who can describe the process better. My one suggestion is to use WEST System epoxy and not polyester or vinylester resin.

Cheers,

Geoff S.
 
It sounds like you are on the right track. I'm no expert, but I bought a '76 last fall that had lots of damage to the bow and the gunwales. I pretty much had to grind off most of the bow and rebuild it, and for the larger spots of the gunwales I used small patches of glass and West Epoxy. It really isn't rocket science, just takes a bit of elbow grease in terms of sanding to get it to look good. I also used some filler mixed in with the resin for the smaller areas, this seemed to work really well, it's easy to sand down and make everything flush. To finish, I'm in the process of painting the hull and gunwales with Interlux Perfection 2 part. I've got the first coat on after 2 thin coats of Primer (epoxy primekote) and it looks awesome.
 
I already used 1 part Interlux Brightside on the bottom. It's not as beautiful as Perfection, but it looks totally unbelievable for a 34 year old boat.
 
ok this sounds really stupid but i am a 17 year old laser sailor no money right? ok so what i use when i have scratches or dings i use if u can believe it, Jb weld, waterproof no shrink hard and sandable not to great for huge areas but it is great for them dings and scrapes:confused: beleive it or not its a cheap great fix then i cover it with w afew layers of interlus brightside white
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. After looking carefully I realized that it was only the gelcoat that was cracked and that the fiberglass beneath was intact. For the larger areas I carefully cut out pieces of glass cloth to fit the areas missing gelcoat, and applied with West System epoxy. It made neat repairs, largely but not entirely filling the void left by the missing gelcoat. For smaller areas, I just painted with epoxy. To finish I'll paint with Brightside.
 
when you use west you get a blemish from the chem reaction i worked in a boat shop were we build all wooden boats with the west system take a green scotch bright scrubby pad. they come in the thin sheets very cheap put water in a bucket and then soak the spot and the scrubby "sand" wipe the epoxy and rince well every half min continue to do this till they water on the scrubby runs off almsot clear it will come off foggy. anotuher thing/ dont use bondo on a boat. it does crack often when you hit the hyper sonic wave frequency happened to by buddys sunfish. i said in an earliers threat i sometimes use jb weld in tight spots but west is the way to go
 
yah its slower kinda like if you have a thick oil on your hands and when you go wash it it doesnt let water get to teh skin and makes those bubbles, thats sorta what wax does. i use 3m fiberglass restorer & wax its really good for me it has a light brittle sandish texture and i use a harbor freight buffer it acts like a wetsand and light wax in one.
 
Try Teflon marine polish. Very good at protecting the gel coat from picking up dirt and gunk, and doesn't slow you down.
 
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