Repairing the nose

S

Skip

New Member
There was a bad storm at our lake. My sunfish apparently bashed into the dock (it must have been like a battering ram) and the tip of the nose no longer exists. I would say about 1- 1 1/2 inches disintegrated. There is a tiny hole, so you can put your finger through into the hull. I am most concerned with sealing it, and cosmetics is secondary. Any suggestions, ideas, thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks,

Skip
 
Somewhere on this board is a thread where a SF had the same problem. A mold was made from another SF so that a new bow piece could be created and grafted on. From the pictures it looks like it worked quite well.
 
Here are 2 pictures showing the damage to the boat. Any suggestions on how to repair would be greatly appreciated.

Several people have said first start by using a foam that expands, (to plug the hole), then sand, possibly apply some putty next, then apply fiberglass and resin.

Does that sound about right?? My main concern is to seal it, and cosmetics is secondary.

Thanks so much,
Skip
 

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You can fiberglass over the hole, the question is how well do you want it to look. If you don't mind the ugly you can indeed plug, sand off the gel coat and glass. Myself if I were going to spend the time to fix it, I'd figure my time is best spent trying to return it to it's original form. Once you clean up the damage you can better judge what will need to be done.
 
That's quite a bo-bo! :eek: The foam plug idea is kind of attractive to me. Fill the hole with foam, then carve away at it until what's left is the shape of the interior volume. Feather the edges of the glass around the hole. Then pile on layers of glass, feathering out over the remaining hull material further with each layer. Somewhere about halfway through the process, clamp a flattish material against the top side of the deck, to form a surface against which to form the new flange around the front. Remember this repair is going to have to be really strong, since the bow is what will bear the impact if you ever run into anything. I think that justifies rebuilding the flange around the bow, even if appearance is of no importance to you.
 
What about taking the above mold ideas one step further, and creating two nose cap molds, one 75% complete, and another , the actual tip, 25% complete (the cap would look like it was cut in two, with the final tip snipped off as if was snipped off with a pair of scissors). Call the large mold mold #1, and the smaller mold, mold #2. That way, you could reach inside the present open hull hole with you hand, and layer it up/down with resin/fiberglass such that that it is structural sound. From there, you could make sure that some unglued fiberglass ends/material of this effort is hanging out of that present open hole, such that you can attach/glue these open ends to mold #1.

From there, you take mold #1, and, using that tiny remaining space in the cap, reach in there with a paint brush and some resin and glue together those hanging, unglued fiberglass ends such that it soundly attaches mold #1 to the hull.

Repeat the procedure, reaching in to glue up new fiberglass strands to the newly attached mold #1, while at the same, time, leaving another set of unglued ends hanging/dangling out of the hole such as to attach mold #2 .

Then glue up and attach mold #2 in the same manner. From there, you can start fiddling around with the outside, depending on how bad/good everything has come together.

Perhaps this would give you the best of both worlds, a structurally sound and good looking finished project, one that could take the pounding of the waves, and still not crack or take on water in the future.
 
Skip said:
"...My main concern is to seal it, and cosmetics is secondary..."
Click to expand...
If the damage is limited to the area shown, you can make a proper epoxy repair yourself that is stronger than the original. My only thought about the foam is that when a proper repair is made, the foam could interfere with adhesion inside.

Nothing else against the foam idea, but for a stronger bond—one to be spread over a larger area—you might try a rotary file (in a hand drill) to rough up the inside margins before epoxying.

Wanna go right out and sail? The damage appears to be totally above the waterline, so just cover the damage with duct tape. :D
(Use white duct tape if you're fussy). :)

When my bailer broke this season, I removed the whole works and covered the hole with three strips of duct tape. It was no wetter inside than before the bailer actually parted company, but I was out sailing in the same hour! :cool:
 
I was thinking using two molds also. The key is that you have a upper and lower ridge the rub rail fits on. It's critical that these ridges get bonded together properly. If you just skip the ridge part and slap some glass over the hole, the repair will most likely fail at some point. By returning the bow to it's proper predamaged shape you're allowing the hull to experience stress that way it was originally intended.

To apply the molded to the hull, I'd use a scarf joint at the standard 15 percent run. The would prevent cracking out in the future. You could probably hold the joint together while it is drying with small pop rivits which could be removed later.
 
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