This is the nose damage that was on my boat when I bought it. Why does it look worse to me now than the day I bought it?
I'm getting ready to do something about it and want to see what the veterans here think I should do and what materials might be needed...
I'm having fun sailing it now and I don't seem to be taking on any water and one option I would consider is a quick fix to just shore it up for now to fix in the off-season. I'm on a pretty flat lake and the only waves I take are from other boats occasionally and they are like one foot tops.
On the other hand, I'm not opposed to pulling the trim off and sanding, grinding, filling, epoxying, fiberglassing, marine-tex whatever needs to be done if can be done in a couple days. I'm a very hand guy with woodworking and mechanical type stuff but have never done fiberglass repair but I have built houses and have lots of tools, sanders, etc.
Looks like someone made a hard landing at the dock, LOL...
You're gonna definitely want to repair that, but you bring up a good point... is it worth doing right now if the hull isn't taking on water?
I'd probably wait till the off-season, when you can repair it at your leisure and take all the time you need to do it right.
But once you tackle the repair, lose the trim or rub rail, get rid of the trash by grinding & sanding it down, then rebuild it properly...
Fair out the glass a bit to either side of those cracks, and lay fresh resin & glass across those faired-out areas as you make things right.
Some sanding and possible filing won't hurt as you rebuild the damaged areas.
Just my $.02, but I have faith in ya, 4cpus4me!!!
Remember, instead of using filler, you can use catalyzed resin and chopped-up glass to fill the deeper cracks... once you rough 'em up enough for the resin & glass to stick. Think of the cracks as politicians or in-laws that ya don't like, LOL.
P.S. Oh, yeah, by all means, use filler or whatever to temporarily seal those cracks, you can always grind it away and scrape the cracks later, LOL. Worst-case scenario, tape up the ugliness till ya get around to fixin' it... some of that white vinyl (?) tape will work.
I'm with Cactus Cowboy - wait til the off season and repair it proper then. I am surprised that you are not taking on any water though. My '71, Ruby, has been taking on a cup or two of water each outing. The air leak test a leak in the same spot on the bow as where your boat is damaged. That is great that you are not taking on water.
I'm with Cactus Cowboy - wait til the off season and repair it proper then. I am surprised that you are not taking on any water though. My '71, Ruby, has been taking on a cup or two of water each outing. The air leak test a leak in the same spot on the bow as where your boat is damaged. That is great that you are not taking on water.
Well, no water came out of the deck drain the other day, and I always lift my boat up onto it's rack I made after sailing and I don't notice it getting any heavier and can't hear any water sloshing around. Maybe the foam is slowly absorbing it. I'm sure with heavier wave chop or sailing with multiple people it almost certainly would take some water through that nose, which is why I thought maybe I would 'caulk' it with something temporarily to get through this season before I do take on water.
Pardon the newbie inquiry and don't mean to de-rail the thread but just how do you air leak test a hull when there is a breather hole under the cockpit front lip? Cover it up? My '77 has the breather hole - I never knew of such a thing till I saw it on a youtube repair video I believe it was Kent1 or something like that. (he has a few Sunfish vids)
Pardon the newbie inquiry and don't mean to de-rail the thread but just how do you air leak test a hull when there is a breather hole under the cockpit front lip? Cover it up? My '77 has the breather hole - I never knew of such a thing till I saw it on a youtube repair video I believe it was Kent1 or something like that. (he has a few Sunfish vids)
You don't apply a lot of air pressure when doing the air leak test. You could tape up the air vent temporarily, or just have someone put their finger over it while you blow in some low pressure air at the drain plug. You'll notice that even after you stop pumping air in, there will still be air coming out of the air vent for many seconds. It doesn't take much air to make bubbles if you've soaped up the suspicious area well.