Spongy Laser2 Cockpit Repair Advice Sought

whittemore

New Member
Greetings...The cockpit on my Laser2 has become spongy and weak to the point where I can depress the cockpit floor with light pressure from my hand in excess of 1/2 an inch. I believe the fiberglass has delaminated from the top sheet in this area. I have heard of a way to reinforce/repair this problem by doing the following however I am asking for any detailed information on the materials (type of resin/epoxies?) used and procedures.
This is what I have "heard"
1) remove pressure plug from stern.
2) insert a shop vacuum with a "blower" option and inflate hull with air.
3) drill a series of small (1/8th-1/4 inch) holes in floor of cockpit spaced approximately 1 inch apart.
4) using some type of syringe or similar device fill holes with resin or compound that will adhere to delaminated fiberglass being forced upwards to top sheet of cockpit floor by forced air via shop vacuum in blower mode.
5) if all goes well the excess resin/compound should be forced through the holes drilled at which point you scrape it clean with a plastic spreader.
has anyone done this type of repair?....or anything similar?....does it make sense (in theory)?
any advice greatly appreciated...
I have to DIY this..btw
 
Greetings...The cockpit on my Laser2 has become spongy and weak to the point where I can depress the cockpit floor with light pressure from my hand in excess of 1/2 an inch. I believe the fiberglass has delaminated from the top sheet in this area. I have heard of a way to reinforce/repair this problem by doing the following however I am asking for any detailed information on the materials (type of resin/epoxies?) used and procedures.
This is what I have "heard"
1) remove pressure plug from stern.
2) insert a shop vacuum with a "blower" option and inflate hull with air.
3) drill a series of small (1/8th-1/4 inch) holes in floor of cockpit spaced approximately 1 inch apart.
4) using some type of syringe or similar device fill holes with resin or compound that will adhere to delaminated fiberglass being forced upwards to top sheet of cockpit floor by forced air via shop vacuum in blower mode.
5) if all goes well the excess resin/compound should be forced through the holes drilled at which point you scrape it clean with a plastic spreader.
has anyone done this type of repair?....or anything similar?....does it make sense (in theory)?
any advice greatly appreciated...
I have to DIY this..btw

id be more likely to cut the cockpit sole out, and replace the rotted ply. then glass and resin the floor panel back in. then you can put in real scuppers in case you have water intrusion. if youre talking about delamination of the foam from the frp or glass, i dunno... id still probably go the direction of cuttng the entire section out and reinforcing it and re adhering the foam to the glass. i posted pics of the hull in my hull dissection thread a couple of months back. so you can kinda see what youre up against.
 
id be more likely to cut the cockpit sole out, and replace the rotted ply. then glass and resin the floor panel back in. then you can put in real scuppers in case you have water intrusion. if youre talking about delamination of the foam from the frp or glass, i dunno... id still probably go the direction of cuttng the entire section out and reinforcing it and re adhering the foam to the glass. i posted pics of the hull in my hull dissection thread a couple of months back. so you can kinda see what youre up against.
and oh....hows your laser rigged? spin? chute? post a pic if its cool.
 
No spin chute on hull-however I do have poll, kite and self rigged launch bag with stays...only flew spinnaker couple times solo. It was....hectic, mainsheet in teeth and both hands busy on tiller and elsewhere. Thanks for the advice! will try to find your hull dissection thread...Im leaning towards attempting the hull inflation, drill holes and epoxy injection method first...If that doesn't produce the required reinforcement then....gulp! will consider breaking out the saws all and cutting cockpit out-note lack of enthusiasm and quantity of fear.
 

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No spin chute on hull-however I do have poll, kite and self rigged launch bag with stays...only flew spinnaker couple times solo. It was....hectic, mainsheet in teeth and both hands busy on tiller and elsewhere. Thanks for the advice! will try to find your hull dissection thread...Im leaning towards attempting the hull inflation, drill holes and epoxy injection method first...If that doesn't produce the required reinforcement then....gulp! will consider breaking out the saws all and cutting cockpit out-note lack of enthusiasm and quantity of fear.
Great photo!!!!! If you're daring enough to single hand with a spin the cockpit sole should be easy. Lol.. very cool.
 
Whittemore, I have no idea if the technique will work but I do know that pressurizing the hull must be done very carefully to avoid doing serious damage to the boat. Consider that even 1psi times the number of square inches in the surfaces results in very high force.
 
Thanks Rob...so Ive got two options for inflation....
1) a small desktop airbrush-used by artists to create paintings/renderings, etc....the compressor is the size of a quart of milk...psi range is unknown BUT I doubt the thing could inflate a bicycle tire. Ive used it to inflate a single size air mattress and it took a very long time.
2) a 2.0 horsepower portable shop vac with a blower option - psi range unknown.
I will def take it slow and easy and start with the airbrush first...
again if know of anyone that has experience with this method of repair/reinforcemnt please send me their contact info...
 
Found this showing an extensive cockpit repair in addition to other things....I found it to be very helpful and informative for my repair issues. specifically in that the cockpit floor has a core material sandwiched between the top sheet of the cockpit and the structural fiberglass closest to the mold used during manufacturing....this is visible near the 6 minute mark on the video timeline....I am hopeful (prayers gratefully accepted..) that if I slice through the top sheet I will be able to remove the rotted core material and replace it with SOME TYPE of structural filler...cut styrofoam insulation?.....Marine-Tex?....lots of "unknowns" for me to (gulp!) "discover".

either way hope the attached link will provide insights for those in a similar situation..

 

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