Hull Damage

[Palard]

My father and I bought an 86 Chaparral for cheap and have come to find out it needs a lot of work. We're slowly getting it fixed up with help of these good forums and just generally Google searching.

Our current step is to repaint the bottom, we've already started sanding the multiple layers of paint(Previous owners temp fix). We found alot of cracks and hole damage along the outer edge of the bottom covered in Silicon, after removing the Silicon we discovered damaged wet fiberglass.

My guess on repairing this would be: 1. Sand down to the glass. 2. Fill/cover the hole with Epoxy. 3. Smooth it out(light sand). 4. Paint it.

Would that sound about right, anything special that is mandatory in between those steps?

Here's some Pictures of the damage.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: Hull Damage

Try to gain access from the inside. Flare out then tape the outside to keep shape. Resin and cloth step the repair. 1 inch wide then 2 then 3. Remove tape and grind from outside the resin and cloth and smooth to a perfect finish paint and call it a day.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Hull Damage

First get yourself some research material. Below is a link to a good starter book. The repairs you are making are not terribly complicated but it can be done wrong. At best you will end up doing it again, at worst you end up swimming to shore. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the process before you begin the work. One major concern is to get the area ground correctly and get it clean. Since the previous owner used silly-cone, getting it cleaned off is very important. Resin (epoxy or poly) will not bond to silly-cone.
There are many good resources here as well. But I still recommend a manual to get started.



http://www.iboats.com/Fiberglass-Boat-Repair-Manual-by-Allan-H-Vaitses-Robert-Hale/dm/*******.125212232--**********.896545156--view_id.109982

 

[Palard]

Re: Hull Damage

Thanks for the responses, I'll look into that book.