NDR- Fiberglass boat repair

chris Lillehoff

chris Lillehoff

Active member
Here it goes,

Last year i purchased a 18 foot boston whaler while in alaska. On a camping trip a few weeks later, i pulled a bonehead move and indian anchored the boat in an unfamiliar location and went ashore for a fire. As the tide went out, the hull found a rock and rubbed a small hole through the fiberglass, exposing the wood. Needless to say, it didn't sink......right away :)

We didn't notice the hole until the next morning at the dock when it was floating tits-up, prop dry as death valley.

Just wondering what the best method for repair would be to this hole seeing as i have never worked with fiberglass.

The scrape is approx a foot lon, two inches wide and there is about two by one inch of wood showing.

Thanks for any help guys!

-chris
 
I assume you have your boat high and dry now. Is the damage just to the sheeting, or does it go into some of the structural parts? Can you post pictures?

If your damage is to the sheeting, your job will be very easy to repair. Most of it can be done with a belt sander. Glassing it will have to wait until you have some heat. I assume N Dakota is pretty well frozed solid this time of year.

Dave
 
This is slightly off-topic, but a Boston Whaler with wood in the hull? I can't say that I have heard of such a model. Admittedly, I don't know everything about Whalers, but as far as I knew, they were all foam-sandwiched hulls. Is this a pre-1960's era hull? I'm not trying to call you out, just get a bit more info on a brand I thought I knew a bit about.
 
I assume you have your boat high and dry now. Is the damage just to the sheeting, or does it go into some of the structural parts? Can you post pictures?

If your damage is to the sheeting, your job will be very easy to repair. Most of it can be done with a belt sander. Glassing it will have to wait until you have some heat. I assume N Dakota is pretty well frozed solid this time of year.

Dave










Dave, yes i believe it is just to the sheeting. The boat is next to my lodge, dry docked for the winter. I do not have any photos of it right now. So i just sand it smooth and epoxy it?
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This is slightly off-topic, but a Boston Whaler with wood in the hull? I can't say that I have heard of such a model. Admittedly, I don't know everything about Whalers, but as far as I knew, they were all foam-sandwiched hulls. Is this a pre-1960's era hull? I'm not trying to call you out, just get a bit more info on a brand I thought I knew a bit about.




I believe that around ten years ago it was reglassed and had a few repairs made but the hull looked great when i bought it. just a few scuffs no cracks or scrapes.
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OK, that makes more sense. You'll get all the help you need here, but if needed, PM me, as I used to work at a yard that sold and repaired Whalers of all stripes and levels of damage. Good luck!
 
Well, the ease of things is relative, I guess. If your damage is like I think you are trying to explain, you don't have a very big job to do. Sand everything down past the damage, lay down a couple layers of glass, and build it up with resin or epoxy, depending on what your boat is made of. Since you mentioned wood, I ASSUME your boat is epoxy. Once you built it up to where you want it, sand it smooth and paint it. Easy as pie.

As some one mentioned Boston Whalers are not made the way you describe. But I have also heard people describe the type of boat (not the brand) as Boston Whalers. Whatever you have and no matter what it is made of, your repair is not big deal.

Getting back to wooden boats, yearly "touch up" is sort of par for the course as I understand it. You will get little dings and scratches (hopefully it won't sink every year) now and then.

Good luck,

Dave
 
This is slightly off-topic, but a Boston Whaler with wood in the hull? I can't say that I have heard of such a model. Admittedly, I don't know everything about Whalers, but as far as I knew, they were all foam-sandwiched hulls. Is this a pre-1960's era hull? I'm not trying to call you out, just get a bit more info on a brand I thought I knew a bit about.
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Boston Walers have used balsa core materials. At least 7-8 years ago they did. It was a very interesting process to watch. Each boat had a design and they cut individual pieces out of Baltec to fit into the hull/deck form. Basically you had a huge jigsaw puzzle that needed to be put together and then glassed over. This gave the people building he boats fits as not all glass laminates are the same. You should see the difference between a boat layed up on a Monday or Friday verses the middle of the week. Big weight swings.

If you got the core material wet when the boat went "tits up", I woudl make darn sure the core/wood is perfectly dry prior to initiating the repair. Otherwise you will get a laminate failure and not just in the spot where the repair is made. Water soaks into wood real well and if you repair over wet wood, the water will find a way out of the laminate eventually.

Mark W
 
Thanks mark! I dried the hull for a week in the sun and by inserting some electric heaters(watched 24/7!) until it wasn't even damp inside of the hull. I thank everyone for their info!

chris
 
Thanks mark! I dried the hull for a week in the sun and by inserting some electric heaters(watched 24/7!) until it wasn't even damp inside of the hull. I thank everyone for their info!

chris
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A week of sun in North Dakota - straight? I ain't buying it?

Not to be the bearer of bad news but a week is not enough if the wood got wet. Water in balsa will migrate well into the laminate where you can't see it. When we used to be in the bottom coating business, there would be boats outside in Florida for months and still be wet. Only way to tell was to use a good moisture meter and even then it wasn't exact. I recall many boats where we would drill a small "weep hole" 15' of more from the damaged site and get water coming our of the hull.

That was a losing business as no matter how good the product was, if the laminate was still wet, and the prep work not done properly, the repair would fail and we were responsible. No longer do we sell these products and they were some of the best on the market.

Mark W
 
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