pretty crappy way to start your birthday...

[Embrey]

with a hole in the boat you have no idea how it got there...

[XIntel007]

Wow! that does suck. Is that the bottom?

[Bassboss]

Err... that really sucks man, hopefully things got better, and boat insurance covered it!

[bamabassman]

ooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh no.........man that has to be the worst thing to wake up to man. so very, very sorry.

[Crank-Bait-Frank]

Embrey!! Tell us how this happened?
Sorry for the birthday bummer!

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by Bassboss

Err... that really sucks man, hopefully things got better, and boat insurance covered it!

uh...no ..........

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by Crank-Bait-Frank

Embrey!! Tell us how this happened?
Sorry for the birthday bummer!

no idea...barely grazed a stump on the trollin motor last time out,but that shouldnt have been anywhere bad enough to do this...i have fiberglass in every part of my skin i think

[Abbeysdad]

ouch - sorry man.

Happy Birthday anyway.

[Bob Smith]

Wow! that looks like a boat ramp rash!! About 2' long? Obviously all the way through the hull. You'll have to pull the cap and glass that puppy inside and outside in order for it to work. Pretty substantial repair job.

[geezer1]

Make sure that floatation is thouroughly dry before you reglass.

[geezer1]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

Wow! that looks like a boat ramp rash!! About 2' long? Obviously all the way through the hull. You'll have to pull the cap and glass that puppy inside and outside in order for it to work. Pretty substantial repair job.

Are you sure about that Bob? I've always repaired those type dings from the outside, after giving the flotation several days to dry.

[Embrey]

yeah, this sucks, and im NOT pulling the cap,if that can even be done. its definately dry,ive been drying it out and actually got fiberglass on the back side. ive got it 90% glassed back in shape and it seems to be more solid than it was ever. gonna run it awhile and make sure its good before i go about regelcoating it...

[rangerryan]

how in the world can you not know how this happened? what ever did that had to make the boat rock. sorry man that sucks a yum dinger.

[Embrey]

believe me i know. i never hit anything with the big motor.only thing i hit was a stump with the trolling motor..must have been a metal post or had a nail in it. sounded like a normal stump though.

[bamabassman]

old fence posts are NOTORIOUS for having nails, barbed wire and all kinds of things still on them even old stumps, remember....it was once a tree and may have been used as part of a fence. hope oyu get it fixed pal.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by geezer1

Are you sure about that Bob? I've always repaired those type dings from the outside, after giving the flotation several days to dry.

Yes, I have done Fiberglass repairs and know several guys in the business. That is not a simple ding that is a full blown hole and a repair from the outside alone will not last. When you lay up both the inside and outside at the same time you create a sandwich type bond which almost like a solid laminate.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Embrey

yeah, this sucks, and im NOT pulling the cap,if that can even be done. its definately dry,ive been drying it out and actually got fiberglass on the back side. ive got it 90% glassed back in shape and it seems to be more solid than it was ever. gonna run it awhile and make sure its good before i go about regelcoating it...

I helped a guy do a similar repair once. He didn't want to pull the cap so we found an old fiberglass fender (off an old corvette). Cut it longer and wider than the opening, and drilled two small holes and inserted a solid copper wire through the holes with a washer on the inside so the wire would not pull all the way through. We sanded all the gloss off the gel coat and cleaned the glass really good with Vinyl Acetone. Leaving the wires long enough to hang outside the hole, carefully insert the piece inside the boat far enough to give you some room to put some resin wetted chopped glass mat down on the inside. Then pull the patch down over the mat and hold it till the resin kicks off completely. Using one hand to hold the patch and the other to pull the squeezeout over the outside of the opening. Once this cures, you can sand the whole area down and put a good layer over the entire outside surface, cure it, sand it to the finish profile and gel coat it. That is one repair that turned out really well without pulling the cap.

[Embrey]

i agree on that and did a similar thing to mine. i didnt have any fierglass around, but i did back the inside the best i could with mat and resin,then added to that and made the ridge and lapped more and more over the seam wider and wider and built up the ridge some more. with just the part on the back it sturdied up totally. as long as the bond stays,it should hold i hope. i had it out for 12 hrs last night and it held up fine. even got into a lot of hard boat wakes i couldnt avoid. its gonna bug the crap out of me until its been together for a really long time i think...

[Bob Smith]

Did you get it sealed good with gelcoat? Fiberglass without the gelcoat is very hydroscopic and soaks up water like a sponge after a while. You repair sounds solid, as long as you get the air completely out each time it should work fine.

[Embrey]

i havent gel coated it yet but plan to this week. i just wanted to test it before i spent all that time doing it. not arguing,but im not sure how fiberglass resin can take on water? seems pretty waterproof to me. i use the resin on plywood for boat decks to seal them before carpet and it works fine. i was out for 13 hrs and never took on a drop of water .

[CMorg]

Originally Posted by rangerryan

how in the world can you not know how this happened? what ever did that had to make the boat rock. sorry man that sucks a yum dinger.

Im with ya here , I would think that would have thrown you out of the boat if you were standing on the front deck. Yum Dinger , LOL.

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by CMorg

Im with ya here , I would think that would have thrown you out of the boat if you were standing on the front deck. Yum Dinger , LOL.

believe me i would have known had i hit something enough to do that. i practically live on the boat. only thing i can figure is it may have had some previous damage i didnt do that wasnt visable and that stump i trolled over had something sharp on it and it finally did it in. everywhere i ran that night was open water except for one area in which i was trolling.

[OrygunBasser]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

I helped a guy do a similar repair once. He didn't want to pull the cap so we found an old fiberglass fender (off an old corvette). Cut it longer and wider than the opening, and drilled two small holes and inserted a solid copper wire through the holes with a washer on the inside so the wire would not pull all the way through. We sanded all the gloss off the gel coat and cleaned the glass really good with Vinyl Acetone. Leaving the wires long enough to hang outside the hole, carefully insert the piece inside the boat far enough to give you some room to put some resin wetted chopped glass mat down on the inside. Then pull the patch down over the mat and hold it till the resin kicks off completely. Using one hand to hold the patch and the other to pull the squeezeout over the outside of the opening. Once this cures, you can sand the whole area down and put a good layer over the entire outside surface, cure it, sand it to the finish profile and gel coat it. That is one repair that turned out really well without pulling the cap.

^
^
^
Ya, that!!!

[BlueDaksi]

Ouch! Awful way to start a birthday.

[geezer1]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

Yes, I have done Fiberglass repairs and know several guys in the business. That is not a simple ding that is a full blown hole and a repair from the outside alone will not last. When you lay up both the inside and outside at the same time you create a sandwich type bond which almost like a solid laminate.

Yeah, you're right, Bob. I didn't look at the picture as closely as I should have. Didn't realize the depth of that gouge.