Hull repair?

S

scubacane5

New Member
Greetings,
Newbie here. I have an old laser with some hull defects. I would like to know if I should try to repair these and if so , how to go about doing it. I dont care about the appearance. I just want to keep the boat sailing.
Any help is appreciated
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Before you go tearing into things,
may I ask, have you ever carried out any fiberglass or epoxy type fixes ?
The first pic is a straightforward dry out rub back n rebuild fix, the last pic looks as though its been done before.
The daggerboard slot damage is a bit of a concern though mate...I'd start exploring there, you * might* find a bit more damage than we all hope is below the surface...but, look at the way the cracking follows the shape of the slot around towards the rear from the forward apex, about a centimetre in. Slightly less on the port side but its there. It does look as though the whole slot assembly has taken a beating as the daggerboard hit the beach at a fair few knots. Yeah I'd start there if this were my project.
Dremel, dust mask, glasses, vacuum cleaner.....
The dremel, with the bullet type grinder bit is a good friend on medium low speed. Make like a dentist and follow the surface cracks using just the bullet tip, patience and work on one at a time until its end and then maybe five mil or so beyond it. Work the gel coat away carefully down to the fibre glass....vacuuming with the other hand.
You're looking (and we're hoping ) for that lovely mish mash of fibres as a solid sheet with no cracks. You may not see any immediately, fairly gentle finger pressure on the scar and with keen eyes you would see any breaks in the strands.
Would love to see some close ups of this stage.....

Did it come with a trolley ? Third pic looks like trolley rash.
 
In the link - picture log of 'repairing a hole in a laser'...if he were to have added a patch of the melamine film ( x2 to get the depth) of the exact same size of the fix on the " inside " of the melamine, then squeegied it...he would have the finish cure at the required depth for gel coating without having to ream it back ( saves time and mess ).
 
Does the hull leak? If not, and you really don't care about the appearance, maybe you should leave it as is. I would stop dragging it over stuff, though.:)

It looks like you may have a leak around the daggerboard slot, though.
 
It does look like you have the plastic cockpit bung fitting though. For what it costs you might want to consider changing it for the brass version. They are not too expensive and it might save you a lot of pain in the long run.
 
Thanks for the initial advice. I havent gotten a chance to get to the daggerboard slot yet. I did find a few small leaks on the deck and one in the cockpit that I planned to just cover with silicone. At least my maststep doesnt leak. I used a hairdrying to find the leaks- If indeed there isnt a leak at the daggerboard slot, I might just leave it be. I bought the boat 3 years ago for 200$ and take it out once a month in the summer months.
 
Word to wise -
Water will get in these cracks and wick into the glass strand layup, weakening it.
I hear ya about its a cheap boat and hardly used but its still your toy
 
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