Fixing a hole in the boat

Neal Haarberg

Neal Haarberg

Active member
I have had my boat for almost 15 years and I finally hit something hard enough on the Monday before Christmas to tear a hole in my boat. I was finally able to get it into my garage yesterday and really asses the damage today. I ended up cutting out a 38" x 4" hole to remove the damaged plywood. The plywood under the chine still needs to be removed. That side will be easy as i will just fasten the patch to the chine. The other side with just plywood I'm not so sure about. I am thinking about 2 options for the joint.

Option 1- just butt joint with another piece of plywood lapped over it.
Option 2 - Grinding out a scarf joint.
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I would like to hear your opinions on the 2 options or if you have whole other idea.

I am hoping I can just get a half sheet of the Okume. I will be calling the lumber yard tomorrow to find out.


View attachment cut hole.jpgView attachment damage.jpg
 
Neal, maybe you remember my Poleboat repair from a number of years ago. I opted to go the scarfing route and it has held up great. http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=199690;do=post_view;search_string=Poleboat#p199690
 
Cant help you Neal but glad you are ok. If I remember you hunt on the Oregon side of the Columbia. That?s big water with scary logs. Any hull integrity issues out there could be seriously dangerous. Glad you made it back to port.

I talked to one guy this season who folded the bow of his Alaskan almost back to the middle seat by hitting a log.
 
Good morning, Neal~


Looks like you are on the right track - with lots of good advice.


I looked at Pete's post - and saw the he did what I often do: Use screws as temporary "clamps" while the thickened epoxy cures. I use panhead or hex-head self-tappers. I have a bunch that I have used on numerous projects.


All the best,


SJS

 
Neal, By the look of the pictures it seams to me that you have a rot problem, and it looks to be from the inner chine.
Phil
 
Neal

I too would go with option 2 and Pete shows a really nice implementation on a repair that I had forgotten just how big his damage was. Joel Mill who is the master boat builder for Sam Devlin shared a similar process years ago and luckily it is still on the web. Also, I think Phil is correct. It looks like you have water damage that will have to be dealt with but nothing you can't handle.

http://boatbuilder.org/projectsbbIII.htm
Good luck and keep us updated.


Eric
 
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Option 2 it is. The next challenge will be if i can find a half sheet of suitable plywood. I really don't want to buy a full sheet of marine ply if I don't have to.

Phil and Eric, I know it looks like rot. The plywood that I still need to remove from the chine is wet from sitting in my driveway for 3 weeks in the rain and will be removed. When it broke I saw nice light colored dry wood before it turned into a fountain. I suspect that when I get to the chine it will be in good shape. We'll see. I hope to get that far tonight. The season ends on the 31st and I really want to to get out the last 2 weekends.

Brad, Yes I do hunt the Oregon side. I was close to the ramp but the chop had me nervous. I had my boot over the hole and could feel the plywood flexing in the chop. I can't wait to get it fixed so I can go back see what I hit. The water had about 1" of visibility and I didn't spend any time to investigate I just wanted to get back to the other side of the river to the boat ramp ASAP!
 
Neal, If you don't want to go to the expense of a BS 1088 plywood, look into a domestic Doug Fir marine plywood such as is manufactured by Roseburg. I think they're in Oregon but sell all over. I've usd it in several boat applications and so far, so good.
 
I was able to find a half sheet of BS1088 for the patch and also picked up some fiberglass and harder. Then it was time to get to work. First I jacked up the boat and slid a 2x4 on the bunk to give me little more working room between the boat and the trailer.
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I cut the fiberglass with on the outside with my dremel multitool and used a chisel to take out the plywood still attache to the chine.

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I used a belet sander and grinder to make the skarf and clean up the chine.
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Everything was going great until it wasn't. I went to set the angle on my table saw to cut the scarf for the patch and it would not tilt. Only 90deg cuts for me. So at this point the trouble shooting began. I checked and there was no sawdust in the teeth of the gears or in the trunnions anywhere. I was able to determine that the shaft with the handle and the worm gear was completely seized. I squirted some WD-40 on it. At this point it was getting late so I cleaned up and went to bed. This morning I was able to break it free and now it turns like it is brand new. So tonight the patch is going in.
 
I would think you could find some scrap BS1088 in Oregon or Washington.... easy enough....

what thickness??? what size???? I might have extra when I am done with this build.
 
Phil, Thank you for the offer but I was able to find a half sheet in 3/8" at My Plywood in Portland. They were out of 1/4 sheets in 3/8" otherwise I would have gone that route.

The next step was to cut out and make the scarf on the patch. The scarf was not needed on the side that would be directly attached to the chine. I predrilled the holes for the screw and got them started before I was laying on my back under the boat.

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Next I wet out everywhere with epoxy. Then took what was left of the epoxy batch and thickened it with colloidal silica and spread it around on the glue joint. and screwed the patch to the chine. I just used some scrap wood as wedges to hold the scarf clamped tight while the epoxy cured.





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The next day It was time to fiberglass after a little cleanup at the joints. I have never had to fiberglass something on the bottom. the boat has always been flipped, so laying on my back and putting the fiberglass on was interesting but fairly uneventful and went well. Then while the epoxy was in the gell state at around 3 in the morning I woke up and added a layer of thickened epoxy to fill in the weave. The Bottom of the boat is coated in Gluvit to give more abrasion resistance than just epoxy and fiberglass and sanding the colloidal silica is not easy so I figured it would be a decent substitute for the Gluvit. and with a little bit left over I put some down on the patch on top side inside the hull as well. I'm calling it good at this point other than paint whic hI will worry about after the season.



Side
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Bottom
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Top
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Neal~


Very nice work all around. Good use of those "wedges" (I'd call them struts) to clamp the patch in place. I give you credit for doing all this with the boat in place.


All the best,


SJS

 
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