Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

[SilverXJ]

Hello. I just pulled my sunsifh out from storage. It was water logged. Found the ingress point, two cracks in teh cockpit. When attempting to drain boat we put a 1' crack in the hull. How would I go about fixing these? Form what I read I need to put out a certain area of the crack, and using carboard, mat and roving, insert them under the hull (no access from above). Than secure with wood and wire and allow to dry. Than level off with more resin. That seems straight forward, but how much will I need to cut out? Also, what can I do about replacing the gel coat? I have been considering replaceing all teh gel coat on the hull, but not sure about that.

 

[ryangrady]

Re: Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

You need to remove anything that has cracked. Often times small hairline cracks will radiate out from your main damaged area and must be removed to properly repair the area. Often times wiping the area with graphite dust will identify these cracks. Gelcoat is available at most boating stores and you can tint to match your color. Otherwise the method you described above is the right way to go. Just be patient, work slowly, fill more than is neccesary and block sand until fair. good luck!

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

one trick learned here at Iboats; drill a small<br />hole at each end to prevent further spreading...<br />good luck,<br />M.Y.

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

Read up on using gel coat before planning on doing any larger areas. It can be tricky, and is a lot of work unless doing it the way the manufacturer did to make the boat in the first place. It doesn't go on smooth unless inside a mold. The whole hull would be a CHORE!

 

[santana21]

Re: Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

I restored two sunfish from almost nothing to very nice little boats. They are very easy to repair. First, start with drying the boat out. Best way i ahve found is to install two 4" opening ports (Beckson Ports) in the top of the hull. Great article on this procedure at the Vanguard website. Follow the directions and you will have some access to the iside and a dry boat. If the crack if kindof small you can try laying fiberglass cloth over it and saturating with epoxy if you don;t want to go at it from the inside. It won't be unditectable but it will be stronger than the surrounding are of the hull.<br /><br />Santana

 

[santana21]

Re: Fiberglass crack repair in sunfish

I restored two sunfish from almost nothing to very nice little boats. They are very easy to repair. First, start with drying the boat out. Best way i ahve found is to install two 4" opening ports (Beckson Ports) in the top of the hull. Great article on this procedure at the Vanguard website. Follow the directions and you will have some access to the iside and a dry boat. If the crack if kindof small you can try laying fiberglass cloth over it and saturating with epoxy if you don;t want to go at it from the inside. It won't be unditectable but it will be stronger than the surrounding are of the hull.<br /><br />Santana