Hole in bottom of boat

I posted about a week ago about a dime sized hole in the bottom of my boat. Well i went to pick boat up and I found out the hole is in the side of the skeg and about a foot of the skeg sounds hollow. Does the skeg go into the boat or is this molded on afterwards??? The hole is about center with my gas tank on the inside and the tank is bigger than the cut out in floor so it cant be removed without cutting deck out. Can anyone tell me if this can be fixed from the outside and if so how difficult???? I have never done fiberglass work but I am handy.
Thank you for any advice

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

It appears to me that you have more damage to that area than just the hole. If you push on the surrounding area does it flex? There appears to be surface cracking in the surrounding areas, correct? It would be better to do the repair from inside and out but it can bed done on the outside only. Just concerned that the damage is more extensive than what you might think.

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

Its just about a foot of the skeg that sounds hollow the rest of the bottom of the boat is solid and everything I can see from inside access panels looks great. Thank you for your help

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

Sooo....why did you start a new thread on exactly the same topic? We now have to go back and forth between the two to see what others have said. Forum rules recommend that you keep your posts on the same topic all in one thread. What kind of boat is this? What Year? MFG? Length? Post some pics of the overall boat and contact a moderator to ask them to merge the two threads.

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

Woodonglass said:

Sooo....why did you start a new thread on exactly the same topic? We now have to go back and forth between the two to see what others have said. Forum rules recommend that you keep your posts on the same topic all in one thread. What kind of boat is this? What Year? MFG? Length? Post some pics of the overall boat and contact a moderator to ask them to merge the two threads.

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There is no way you can fix this correctly from the outside plain and simple.

you can patch-it from the out side if you want a half azz job ... grind it down to the glass then re glass sand glass again and gel-coat and enjoy it till it last or it rotts the bottom of the boat out.

If it was my self i would fix it right .. pull the deck and get it done ... there nothing like going down the river or lake wondering how well your half arse patch is holding up 10hrs out of your 11hr boat trip.

trust me ive been there and done that with a 1966 mfg beachcomber it worked but for how long is the key?

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

The boat is a 1989 walk around cuddy 23ft. The boat is made by galaxy boats. I will get some pics tomorrow

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

Today I put plug in boat and filled with 2 inches of water and let it sit for about an hour and nothing came out of hole

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

no....nothing would have came out of the hole due the the fact that the foam is soaking up the water.

yes you can do the job from the out side...if you are a pro.

that hole is actually a big problem....

someone that did not know what they were doing tried the repair...and botched the outside only repair.....now you have a bigger job

for a diy...i would cut out the deck and all the wet foam,,,then repair it inside out fashion.

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

Thank you for the advice oops but there is no foam in this area or any area that I can see under the deck. I got the boat off my uncle who bought in new in 89 and he told me there has never been any repairs done to the fiberglass.

Re: Hole in bottom of boat

I see no evidence of a previous repair. I agree as I stated previously that Inside/out is preferable but... You could/should do this repair now from the outside to stop the water penetration and then in the near future do it the absolute right way. I suspect that the wood in the keel has rotted away due to the hole allowing water in. If as OOPS suspects you have floatation foam, and I suspect that you do too, it is probably water logged. Regardless, I believe you can and should cut out the "Hollow sounding area of the keel/skeg and attempt to find good wood. Then fabricate and replace the missing wood with new piece made from Douglas Fir or Southern yellow pine coated with several coats of epoxy and scarfed into place. Epoxy the wood in place and then use several layers of CSM and 1708 to glass it all back into place. You may find that when you cut into it there is much more damage than you suspect and the inside/out repair IS required. But maybe not