Minor fiberglass repair

[ChicagoSailor]

New to the forum, appreciate any direction.

26 foot Grampain Sailboat took a concrete pier hit to the bow rail and scraped off my fiberglass to the base! Approximately 1 inch in thickness along a 18 inch path scrape. Some spots worse than others. A scrape.

Is there an easy way to repair this on the can or do you just wait for drydock at the end of the season?

Small kits available? Need some direction. Thanks.

[Active Transport]

Try this site for f/g repair materials and good information on how to go about it.

Mini-Craft of Florida, Inc.

[hellosailor]

Also check out the West Systems Epoxy web site, they have online articles about repairs. The only problem with doing the job on your mooring, would be getting power for grinding and sanding. If there is "solid plastic" i.e. not porous or coring materials showing through, you could probably ignore it until the end of the season. If you want to cover the damaged area, pick up a roll of aluminum or stainless steel tape, used for house gutter repairs and car repairs, wipe the hull down and then use that to seal over the gash temporarily.

[Steve Rust]

How about a few coats of epoxy to seal the area until haulout. If it is near the waterline maybe some underwater epoxy would be the answer. You can find it in small kit form.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Chicago,
I recommend the book The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual by Allan H. Vaitses from the Public Library.
It'll explain everything you need to know. I do recommend the use of expoxy resin and hardner over polyester and also recommend liberal use of masking tape and paper to keep the resin from spoiling anything you don't want it to dribble on.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[Active Transport]

A temporary epoxy repair is a good idea. Epoxy is actually a better choice than polyester resin for structural repairs as the epoxy has much better adhesive properties to cured polyester.

The only thing to be careful about is protecting the epoxy from uv. Sunlight will tear it up in short order. That's a good thing if you end up getting epoxy where you dont want it.. Just painting it works fine for uv protection and then sand off the paint and get the repair gelcoated when the season is over.

[Sailormann]

How about a few coats of epoxy to seal the area until haulout. If it is near the waterline maybe some underwater epoxy would be the answer. You can find it in small kit form.

What he said. Don't leave it exposed.