16' Carolina Skiff hull repair

Since I'm new - I'm not sure if this is the right forum, so mods - please move if necessary

I just bought a J16 that has about a 4' crack in the bottom of the hull on the st'bd side just inside and along the chine at the edge of the hull.

I bought the boat knowing about the crack - so now I need to get into fixing it.

I'll get some pics up when I can - my camera was stolen last week or I'd post them now.

I'm looking for suggestions as to how to tackle this crack.

Thanks!

Re: 16' Carolina Skiff hull repair

borrowed a camera and added 2 pics.

looking for suggestions on how to tackle the repair.

thanks!

Re: 16' Carolina Skiff hull repair

not sure how to fix that, but I guess that i might as well throw out the first welcome to iboats!

looks like it could be starting to de-laminate a bit. you might have to remove a good portion of the bad gel, glass, and any core material that might be rotten in order to be sure that it won't just happen again. one of the guys on this forum will know what to do for sure though.

Re: 16' Carolina Skiff hull repair

Start grinding the cracks out. Grind until you hit good glass that hasn't been damaged. Don't grind through to the inside. When you get the cracks ground out feather the grinding outward 3" all the way around removing the gel. Lay in new glass. Each layup of glass should be a couple inches larger than the next. Usually about 3 layers of 2 oz mat. The last should come to the edge of the grind and up to the gel area that hasn't been ground. When your layup is finished it should recede the untouched gel area. Featherlight body fill will be fine to fare it smooth. Again, when done it should still recede the untouched gel area by at least a 32nd of an inch. Reason for the repair to recede is so that when you finally apply gel you'll build the area up so as not to have a "halo" effect after you sand and polish. I normally mask the area off a few inches beyond the repair and spray gel one coat at a time until it is built up enough for sanding.
It is quite a process so you might want to get a manual or something so you can read and follow it step by step. Hope this helps.