Should i be worried over these scratches and if so what would be a good repair?

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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Yea topside is fairly good, Whats the 3M stuff called? also. why praise 3M and down JB products? it essentially the same stuff. 3M could arguably be the more generic of the two? Just curious. Well. For the time being. I believe im going to use the bed liner only on the bad spots as i know the stuff is hell to remove once applied and probibly repaint the boat on one of the warmer days just so i can get by and use the boat a couple times until summer then when summer rolls in and i dont have college and a car as a big expense ill look into sanding it all down and look into what all im gonna need to do. I may even skip on the spray on bed liner, just depends on what paint i end up with, worse comes to worse i can always just pick up a hull on the cheap(they go fairly cheap around here) and move over my motor and hardware. heck the motor has a pretty fresh rebuild, I'll put up pics of what i end up doing so yall can see what i chose to do.
 

Bman2895

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And you dont think i could fiberglass over the patch? is that because it wouldn't hold and adhere or because i couldn't properly mold it?
 

jbcurt00

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No, its a hump

If I found what looks like a blob 'repair' done to the bottom of the boat, was mislead about it, I'd have no confidence that it was done well, besides what else might be hidden beneath it or any of that black paint that was applied pourly.

Theres numerous drips and sags in the paint shown in your pix.

So, previous owner cant patch fiberglass well and cant paint well, what else did they do not well?

Its a boat. You dont just pull over and get out when theres a problem.

Again, there is much more to this then a little sanding and filling.

Going over a hump makes a bigger hump
 

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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ah okay, i gotcha, most of them are dips though. how would i go about filing them in to smooth it back out with fiberglass ?
 

ondarvr

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Let's start with this, the paint and/or rattle can truck bed liner are worthless as products to seal or protect anything, this type to truck bed liner is nothing like the product that is actually used on a truck bed, its a cheap junk imitation product. Paint will do nothing to seal or protect the bottom of a trailer boat, so if you don't have money, don't do either of these because they will be of no value. Next, some of the "pink" we see that appears to be a Bondo type body filler looks like a bit of a reflection in some pics, so is there or isn't there pink body filler on it?

The superficial scratches all over the hull don't need any attention, ignore them.

The areas that look like prior repairs need to be sanded down to determine what the issue was, if just body filler was used to do the repair, and it's holding up, it means it probably didn't need to be repaired, because body filler has no strength, it's an almost worthless product in this application. It could be a somewhat good repair with Bondo used over it, which if that's the case nothing needs to be done.

If it looks sketchy when you sand off the paint in those spots you can do a quick and ugly repair that will hold up fine, or you can do it nicely for the same amount of money, just a little more time.

If the keel has been worn down from repeated beaching, then the rattle can truck bed liner and paint are of no value, you will need to rebuild the area back up with actual fiberglass, nothing else is going to help.

The cost will be minimal at this point to remove the paint over the bad spots and get a better idea of what the issue is. If a small amount of glass work is required the cost will be low. But don't go out and buy a bunch of worthless products that have no chance success, determine what actually needs to be done before spending a penny.
 
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Scott Danforth

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^+1. what ondarvr said. the pictures show a back-yard bondo-repair of what probably was keel rash from beaching. the area needs to be sanded down, and investigated.

if it is just a small area, and there is no water damage (soaked foam, rotten stringers, etc), then you are looking at a $50 repair with about 8-10 hours of work to get it done right, or you can spend $25 on bondo and jb weld to cover it up and not get it done right.
 

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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Okay, There is NO pink bondo anywhere on the boat. only colors present on the bottom are black and white. so its likely just a reflection you all see. so far as the superficial scratches go i just wanted to smooth them out a bit. I do have a question. If i find any more little pin holes around the shody repairs could i simply take just fiberglass resin itself and fill the holes with that? and the guy told me the globs are a kind of steel epoxy product. and whatever it may be it is some really hard stuff. doesnt look or feel cheap.
 

Bman2895

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I dont even see where you would see pink in any of the photos? but i can 100% assure you there is no pink anything on the bottom
 

ondarvr

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Well that's good, no Bondo, that's what I thought, just had to clear it up, in some pics there was a slight pink look in the reflection, without being there some of it could have been Bondo.


You still need to see what the repairs look like and what they're covering, epoxy putty alone is not a good repair product, smearing it over a crack may stop the leak for a while, but it won't be a structural repair.

The spot you repaired could be nothing, or it could be a larger yet unseen problem deeper in the laminate, damaged glass can be hidden under gel coat and piant, and is normally much larger than the crack you first see. Being a hole that doesn't go through the glass as you described, means that it won't leak, no water should be dripping from it, if water was was dripping from it, then there is much more of a problem and it need to be looked at further.

Again, right now the superficial scratches are not important, forget about them until the more serious questions are answered.
 

Bman2895

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Well i inspected the hole and it didnt look to go throught., i saw another layer of fiberglass through the hole. worse comes to worse i can always sand the JB waterweld off and do a better repair if i see more damage inside the boat. Im going to go get some pics of the inside and see what yall think.
 

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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Alright so i went in through my access holes in the boat floor and nose and took some pics. I noticed that ice and i carefully busted it up and got it out. I think thats either rain water got in or defrosted frost. could possibly be from the last trip to the lake, but im not sure, I stuck a towl up in there to absorb what melts and ill get it out before tonight. i felt around and inspected and found no bad looking spots or soft spots. but, what i did notice is. I don't really have foam down in the hull? theres some in one of the pictures, but its attached to the upper half of the boat? also appears like my boat is built in like compartments? took a video which i feel shows it all better, but how do i upload a video? Anyways what do you all think?
 

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Scott Danforth

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I guarantee there is bondo under this
fetch


you can see it where the paint has been worn

heck, you can see the marks from the 36 grit disk the prior owner put on the DA thru the paint

Grind this away down to clean and un-cracked fiberglass, and do a proper patch. you may end up with an area patched that is 2' long by 12" wide. you will want to feather your divot that you grind. start in the middle with small glass matt patches and get bigger by about 2" each successive layer

from your pictures today, it looks like you can get down into the area. thats good, because you can probably also patch from the inside. the good news is your foam appears to be sprayed to the bottom of your deck plug.

As i stated prior, this should only be a $50 / 8 hour repair.
 

Scott Danforth

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also, put
after and the pictures will show vs having to click on them
 

Woodonglass

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That's kind Strange. MFG's are required to have Flotation Foam in all their Hulls. Maybe you have flotation boxes in the back. Are the last pics of the inside taken in the area where the damage is on the outside? If so, then I don't see any evidence of damage to the inside of the hull so that's good.

I agree with Scott. The abrasions and Color showing thru sure look like Bondo to me.. Regardless, This forum is full of experienced Fiberglass experts that can and will help you with the repair and I guarantee it will be better than what's on there now. Like Scot says It won't cost more than $50 bucks and take 1 day to do. I KNOW what it's like to be a POOR College Kid just trying to have some fun. But...Won't be much fun, if you have a MAJOR problem. Especially if you could have fixed it before hand. You said the transom was Rock Solid. What did you do to ensure that. How do you KNOW it's Rock Solid???
 
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Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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Yeah the last couple pics are more or less right over the repair on the hull. quick question. will foam add any significant weight if i were to add it in there? because the boat loves to stand up going up on plane and coming back off plane. so any weight i can add up front that also helps the boat overall would be fantastic. And okay sorry about that . new to this forum setup. why spray to the bottom of the deck though? does that actually do anything?
 

fishin98

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Nov 28, 2009
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I know what it is like to be on a limited income and a owner of a boat. Google..3M Marine High Strength Repair Filler...this is what you could use to fill in all those gouges, after you have sanded the hull down...Just My 2 Cts There might be a better or cheaper product out there,but 3M products have always given me great results.
 

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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If I'm gonna sand down in definitely going back with fiberglass. Maybe I could use bedliner on the inside hull? This would add some weight where i need it. I may also(after the repair) install some sort of keel guard. Any recommendations?
 

ondarvr

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Bed liner, even the real stuff, is of no value in this type of repair. Remove enough paint and filler to see what's really going on, then post some pics, the people here will walk you through the lowest cost, easiest, and most reliable method of fixing it.

Yes, keel guards work well, if you plan to beach the boat much you will need one.
 

Bman2895

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Feb 11, 2016
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Bed liner, even the real stuff, is of no value in this type of repair. Remove enough paint and filler to see what's really going on, then post some pics, the people here will walk you through the lowest cost, easiest, and most reliable method of fixing it.

Yes, keel guards work well, if you plan to beach the boat much you will need one.

No i mean on the inside of the hull. i would be repairing the outside with the fiberglass properly in the summer. although honestly theres no damage there so im not sure i should do anything to the inside. i was only thinking bedliner on the inside to add some weight and maybe add another layer of protection to the inner hull. i may still repair the spot with fiberglass then run a strip of a liner down the center of the hull for beaching/protection purposes. heck line x advertises it used for just that purpose.
 
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