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Andy,
Where do you buy your fiberglass materials?
I typically buy all my composite material from Express Composites as they are close to me (I get delivery next day), know what they are talking about and have great prices. But depending on your location it might work out better to find a composite dealer close to you to save on shipping. I’d check these guys out, they still may be less expensive than any of your other options 🙂
Andy, great videos. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with the masses.
Hi Andy!
Thanks for doing these, I’ve watched all your boat videos. If you had a hole on just one side and no access to the back, what would you use and how would you apply a backer? Thanks a lot and I hope you can do a transom and stringer video series someday.
Tim
Andy, your videos are awesome! Thank you for taking the time to make them. Your details are second to none. I have a 92 240 Sundancer with a couple of 1 1/4″ holes that are 3 to 4 inches apart on a vertical surface. The thickness of hole is like 3/4″ with a wood core. My plan is to fill hole with a mixture of resin, 1/4″ chopped strand and a thickening agent to be determined. Sand and use Adtech P-14. Sand and finsish with matching gelcoat. Will my filler patch work for fixing the holes or should I take a different approach? Also if plan is sound, can you recommend what I should use for the thickening agent?
I would appreciate your feedback. Thank you in advance from your neighbor in Duluth, MN.
Steve
Hi Neighbor :-),
Thank you for the kind words 🙂 There are a few different ways to approach this, but the method I typically use is to cut a wood plug for the holes (roughly same thickness which sounds like 3/4″) and epoxy it in place. I tend to favor West System epoxy, so I typically use that and thicken with 406 silica to peanut butter consistency. Epoxy a plug in each of the holes and let cure. The plug should be fairly snug, but not so tight that you have to pound it in..
Then to prevent the plugs from popping through down the road I like to dish the glass and surface of the plug (roughly a 1″ diameter) and lay in some small pieces of csm with poly resin (usually 2 layers). After it sets up, apply PVA to fully cure. Next day sand flush, then sand a shallow dimple on the surface to allow for the thickness of the gelcoat (just make sure you don’t sand through the glass you just applied). If there are any pits in the glass give a skim coat of Adtech p-14 and sand smooth prior to gelcoating.
Mix up your gel and apply. Wetsand and polish 🙂
Your method will work as well, but I’ve found that it can sometimes require a little more effort to get the surface right. You can thicken the resin with cabosil. Only other thing I’d add would be to put a layer or two of csm over the patch to prevent the resin plug from popping through in a couple years 😉
Hope this helps! Also, make sure temps are at least 65F during the cure cycles of the poly resin (epoxy can go down to 50).
really love your videos Andy, I’m a heavy duty mechanic by trade, but you can just tell when someone knows what they are doing, keep going. I have a 1989 Boston Whaler Outrage I am about to restore but I’m sure I could use a few e-mails and become a patron, the hull is De-laminated from the foam core in some sections, have you ever done any of these uni bond constructed boats
Hi Trevor! Thank you for the kind words 😉 What areas of your boat are delaminating?
Thank you for your videos, I new nothing about fiberglass and now I look forward to the frustrations my 14′ McKee will hand me while I attempt to restore it.