Hole in hull

[Michigan Mich]

We recently received a 74 Sunfish that had been in storage for 20 plus years. The price (free) was good, but some problems ahve cropped up that are maybe beyond us. The main one is a hole along the keel that had been patched with caulking and then covered with some sort of black resin. We've sanded off most of the resin to expose the hole -- about 1" x 2". The wood is gone.

This is all new to us. Any suggestions. Some sort of sceening, then fiberglas?

 

[Charles Howard]

A 74 sunfish should not have wood in the keel. The only wood would be backing blocks for the bridle, cleat, etc. Can you take some more pictures?

 

[Michigan Mich]

Thanks.
Now it looks like a little piece of wood was put in as part of the patch. We've now cleaned up a bit more. Not sure this pic will help.

 

[signal charlie]

Hello and welcome. Thanks for the photos. Can you back up a bit and get a picture of where that hole is in the keel?

One repair option is what the manufacturer used to do is called a Blind Hole Patch. You will need your resin of choice, either polyester or epoxy based resin. A piece of cardboard, string, and several layers of fiberglass cloth about an inch bigger around than the hole, and some paint sticks and blocks.

We used TotalBoat THIXO (Thickened epoxy) from Jamestown Distributors mail order that comes in a caulk cartridge and part of the box that the THIXO was shipped in. We have woven roving fiberglass cloth but you can also use several layers of 4 oz fiberglass cloth, which is also what we use to rebuild the hull to desired thickness once the blind hole patch has cured.

This repair can also be accomplished with a West Systems Fiberglass Repair kit, so what materials you round up depends on what resources you have local, and of course online marine supply

You can search for Blind Hole Patch on this Forum or our blog or youtube page, plus follow all the steps as we did similar reapairs on our 1965 Sunfish WAVE

There's a lot of knowledgeable folks in this Forum to help guide you through step by step.

 

[Michigan Mich]

Thanks so much. Here is another photo.