Seeking advice on fiberglass repair

[mstan55]

Hello friends,

My 1999 Welcraft 16 foot cc has some fiberglass damage on the keel. How bad is it? I clearly need to repair and install a keel guard. I have no experience with fiberglass repair and it seems very involved. Any advice out there for an effective solution without major $ at a fiberglass shop? Thank you for reading.

 

[alldodge]

Moved you to hull repair

That should be easy enough to repair. Grind out the loose stuff and get it cleaned up. Find out if there is any wet wood inside. If all dry, rough up the area on each side with some 80 grit, don't want any paint of gel a few inches on each side.

Mix up some chopped fiberglass and poly resin and push the mix in all the cracked area. When dry give it another sanding in the cracked areas if needed to smooth out. Add more if needed just to get it even

Cut piece of chopped strained mat (CSM) about an inch wider then the cracked area and it's length. Wet the area down with resin and lay CSM against hull and wet it with resin. Repeat this process later with another piece of CSM an inch wider then the first one

I would then use a piece of Biaxial cloth a bit wider the the second layer to finish. Once dry sand to desired finish, paint of gel coat

This is how I would do it, others will be along with other ideas

 

[todhunter]

If you're going to put a keel shield on there, I'd just grind out the bad, mix up some polyester resin with some cabosil to make it thick, then fill the gouge. Sand it to shape, tape off the area, then roll on 2 coats of white gelcoat. Then install your keel shield.

Here is where I did mine.

 

[Scott Danforth]

At the top of the forum are the stickies. Look at 4th sticky down, then go to links 14, 15, 18, 2,3,4 in that order

Go thru all the links, look at all the pictures, read everything, and after that, you have all the information needed

 

[mstan55]

Moved you to hull repair

That should be easy enough to repair. Grind out the loose stuff and get it cleaned up. Find out if there is any wet wood inside. If all dry, rough up the area on each side with some 80 grit, don't want any paint of gel a few inches on each side.

Mix up some chopped fiberglass and poly resin and push the mix in all the cracked area. When dry give it another sanding in the cracked areas if needed to smooth out. Add more if needed just to get it even

Cut piece of chopped strained mat (CSM) about an inch wider then the cracked area and it's length. Wet the area down with resin and lay CSM against hull and wet it with resin. Repeat this process later with another piece of CSM an inch wider then the first one

I would then use a piece of Biaxial cloth a bit wider the the second layer to finish. Once dry sand to desired finish, paint of gel coat

This is how I would do it, others will be along with other ideas

Thank you!

 

[mstan55]

If you're going to put a keel shield on there, I'd just grind out the bad, mix up some polyester resin with some cabosil to make it thick, then fill the gouge. Sand it to shape, tape off the area, then roll on 2 coats of white gelcoat. Then install your keel shield.

Here is where I did mine.

Thank you. Your work looks great.

 

[mstan55]

Thank you!

At the top of the forum are the stickies. Look at 4th sticky down, then go to links 14, 15, 18, 2,3,4 in that order

Go thru all the links, look at all the pictures, read everything, and after that, you have all the information needed

Thank you!