But there where two spots that needed attention before it got wet.
There was a bruise on the keel, in the bow, and a "bruise" in the glass on the side.
What, you may ask, is a star and a bruise on a fiberglass boat. Well they are both failure points, which basically weaken the structure of the boat. A star is a crack in the gelcoat of the boat. It look like a bunch of lines radiating from a central point. The most likely cause of this particular star would be if it was dropped and a hard surface, like a rock. The star below the water line can let water seep between the gelcoat and the fiberglass, which could lead to the layers laminating. This is a bad thing, and would lead to the end of the boat, or a more involved fix.
A bruise in fiber glass is when the resin cracks, but the cloth is still mostly intact. The usually can be identified by a soft spot where there shouldn't be one.
The bruise was an easy fix, it just required a reinforcing layer, or two. The best thing would be to reinforce both the inside and out, but I didn't want to put a lump on the outside of the boat, so I decided to just reinforce the inside with two layers of cloth. It looks like this;
And on the outside there is a little crease:
There was no reason to use the term athwart ships.
Next up, and last for this season, are the decks. Then a canoeing we will go.
An easy patch, just two rectangle pieces of cloth and resin.
You may remember from the past, just how far a little bit of resin goes. I didn't have to worry about that on this fix. Not really because I got smarter and learned how to mix a very small batch of resin. In fact I almost didn't have enough resin to finish this repair. You see, I've been using plastic cups to measure and mix the resin. Cheap and requires no clean up, just toss it away when done with it. Well, I didn't have any more of the cups that I had been using. So I went went in search of a replacement. Since plastic cups, specially small ones, aren't very environmentally friendly, there aren't many in the house. But I did find some hiding in the back of the closet. Super, I could continue. I cut my cloth, gather the brush, and epoxy, and mix an ounce in the cup. Stir it up real good, get it well mixed. I paint the pre-sanded spot where the patch will go, apply the first piece of cloth and wet it out. Moving right along, be done in a jiffy. Apply the second piece of cloth, start to wet it out. Go to dip the brush in the cup. I look at where I'm dipping the brush, just as the bottom of the cup melts off, and the rest of the resin drops away with it. It would appear that all plastic cups are not resin proof. Who knew?
I was able to squeeze enough resin out of the brush to finish the repair. I gotta get some new cups.
The star was near the bow, it was close enough that a sort of skid place could be put on to a) patch the star and, 2) protect the forward keel from further abuse. The idea to do this was simple, cut two pieces of cloth, a square yard of fiber glass goes along way, in an elongated diamond shape, and attach them to the hull with resin. First let us note that you need VERY sharp scissors to cut fiber glass cloth neatly. If you want to test just how sharp your scissors are, try and cut some glass. Second, your shop scissors are not going to be sharp enough, no matter what you think. Third, your wife will not like the idea of you using her sewing scissors in your shop, to cut fiber glass. Forth, after being rebuked in your attempt to "borrow" the sewing scissors, you can do just a bit better using a straight edge and a utility knife blade. Until you move the piece you just cut, then it unravels at the edges and looks like you chewed it off. After a few attempts, and lots of strings of glass everywhere, I got two pieces that would do. Now this type of fiberglass cloth is supposed to be able to bend and fit to almost any curve, with out puckering, of wrinkling, etc. I didn't believe this due to the shape of the hull where I was going to put the stuff, the turn of the keel at the bow. I was expecting the first attempt to be a mess, a big sticky, stringy mess. So an appropriately large amount of tape was used to mask off the repair area.
Imagine my surprise and some what awe, when the cloth followed the shape of the hull with just a little coaxing with the resin and brush. You would not believe that a flat piece of cloth could bend in so many sharp curves, in different directions. The second piece also went on with out much bother.
The excess resin started to run up the sides of the boat, since it was upside down. Some quick thinking (quick for me any way) and a flip of the boat, so it was right side up, and the excess ran off the bottom. It did leave some resin stalactites that had to be removed, but it also meant that the resin was extra thick where the boat would hit, sand, gravel, rocks and stuff when it was brought ashore. Just a little more protection where it needed it the most. So not only did I cover the star, but also got a little skid plate.
You may remember from the past, just how far a little bit of resin goes. I didn't have to worry about that on this fix. Not really because I got smarter and learned how to mix a very small batch of resin. In fact I almost didn't have enough resin to finish this repair. You see, I've been using plastic cups to measure and mix the resin. Cheap and requires no clean up, just toss it away when done with it. Well, I didn't have any more of the cups that I had been using. So I went went in search of a replacement. Since plastic cups, specially small ones, aren't very environmentally friendly, there aren't many in the house. But I did find some hiding in the back of the closet. Super, I could continue. I cut my cloth, gather the brush, and epoxy, and mix an ounce in the cup. Stir it up real good, get it well mixed. I paint the pre-sanded spot where the patch will go, apply the first piece of cloth and wet it out. Moving right along, be done in a jiffy. Apply the second piece of cloth, start to wet it out. Go to dip the brush in the cup. I look at where I'm dipping the brush, just as the bottom of the cup melts off, and the rest of the resin drops away with it. It would appear that all plastic cups are not resin proof. Who knew?
I was able to squeeze enough resin out of the brush to finish the repair. I gotta get some new cups.
The star was near the bow, it was close enough that a sort of skid place could be put on to a) patch the star and, 2) protect the forward keel from further abuse. The idea to do this was simple, cut two pieces of cloth, a square yard of fiber glass goes along way, in an elongated diamond shape, and attach them to the hull with resin. First let us note that you need VERY sharp scissors to cut fiber glass cloth neatly. If you want to test just how sharp your scissors are, try and cut some glass. Second, your shop scissors are not going to be sharp enough, no matter what you think. Third, your wife will not like the idea of you using her sewing scissors in your shop, to cut fiber glass. Forth, after being rebuked in your attempt to "borrow" the sewing scissors, you can do just a bit better using a straight edge and a utility knife blade. Until you move the piece you just cut, then it unravels at the edges and looks like you chewed it off. After a few attempts, and lots of strings of glass everywhere, I got two pieces that would do. Now this type of fiberglass cloth is supposed to be able to bend and fit to almost any curve, with out puckering, of wrinkling, etc. I didn't believe this due to the shape of the hull where I was going to put the stuff, the turn of the keel at the bow. I was expecting the first attempt to be a mess, a big sticky, stringy mess. So an appropriately large amount of tape was used to mask off the repair area.
Imagine my surprise and some what awe, when the cloth followed the shape of the hull with just a little coaxing with the resin and brush. You would not believe that a flat piece of cloth could bend in so many sharp curves, in different directions. The second piece also went on with out much bother.
The excess resin started to run up the sides of the boat, since it was upside down. Some quick thinking (quick for me any way) and a flip of the boat, so it was right side up, and the excess ran off the bottom. It did leave some resin stalactites that had to be removed, but it also meant that the resin was extra thick where the boat would hit, sand, gravel, rocks and stuff when it was brought ashore. Just a little more protection where it needed it the most. So not only did I cover the star, but also got a little skid plate.
There was no reason to use the term athwart ships.
Next up, and last for this season, are the decks. Then a canoeing we will go.
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