HELP with boat edge

I have this 17.5 foot fiberglass boat i have been doing alot of work to. It has a lip on the edge and it is very thin. So when it bumps into a dock or marker it craks the fiberglass. Now it is hollow underneath and I have thought that maybe if i put something up inside there to make it more ridgeid it would keep it from flexing in and cracking. BUT WHAT? wood maybe but with the curv of the boat i would have to cut severla pieces to make them fit. I thought maybe a pvc pipe cut in half but i have no way to cut the pvc down the middle. Do you have any ideas?


here are some pictures of the lip that goes around the whole boat. It sticks out about 2 1/2 inches and is about 1 1/4 inch deep.

Re: HELP with boat edge

Interesting boat... it almost looks like a custom job, or someone's one-off project.

Usually boats have a rub rail along that edge, basically a sacrificial bumper or strip that prevents damage from rubbing against stuff. It's very strange that your boat doesn't have one... do you know if it ever did?

The lip you have on there is probably a combination of the cap (the upper molded component of the boat) and the hull edges. Bear in mind whatever you add may stop you from separating the two in the future if you need to do some major work on the boat.

If it was me, I'd probably reinforce the lip by adding extra glass to the top half, make sure I cleaned up any damage on the bottom, then install a simple vinyl rub rail.

Erik

Re: HELP with boat edge

Normally in that type of construction the rolled lip is made thicker (extra glass) to hold up better. PVC won't help, wood will a little, but the only good solution is to add a couple layers of glass and a rub rail. Even with these changes if you hit something there's a chance of doing damage, but it will hold up much better.

Re: HELP with boat edge

no it never had a rub rail on it, however it did have some homemade wood molding that went around it. I took that off!!! as far as adding more glass that is a good idea but i cant get under that lip to sand or rough it up! I have tried putting a small patch under there without sanding and it dont stick, it just pops off. The back half of the boat seems to be much ticker than the fron half, front half seems like maybe one or two layers of glass is all they used i can move it with my bare hand quite easily

Re: HELP with boat edge

I used to have a dinghy that was built that way. I thought of putting PVC tubing filled with structural foam under the lip. Didn't have a chance to actually do it before I got rid of the little boat though.

As for sanding under there... how about using a hopper fed sandblaster?

-BWR

Re: HELP with boat edge

PLEASE, resize your oversized pictures.

by sanding straighten the edge as much as you can, this is made for the lip to lap the rough edge of the glass.

http://www.iboats.com/1_1_16_X_11_1...3082640--**********.744325659--view_id.271785

Re: HELP with boat edge

Adding glass to the outside (top surface) is what I was talking about, not under it and this means all the way around the boat, not just in the areas that need repair right now. It would start a few inches down from the radius on the inside of the boat, go up over the top and then down to the outside edge.

Without sanding it well nothing will stick.

Another option that won't work as well would be to find some black poly pipe the right diameter to fit in the gap, use screws to hold it place. This will offer some support, but won't work as well as making it thicker with glass.