Small Hole Repair - Good Idea or Bad Idea?

[76SeaRay]

I am filling in the holes where there were canvas snaps for various reasons. So, when thinking about how to do that it struck me that why not fill with wood. Attached is a picture of a rivet hole filled with a 1/8 inch dowel using polyester resin. Once set, just cut off the wood and sand down and gelcoat over it. Good or Bad Idea? Would this work for up to 1/4 inch or even 3/8 inch holes?

Thanks...

 

[76SeaRay]

And now the picture.....

 

[Grub54891]

Might be just me, but no. The wood will expand/contract over time and pop out the repair. You apparently have the epoxy, mix with a touch of cabosil and fill with that. A lot more permanent repair.

 

[Scott Danforth]

if it was me...... mix up some hairy PB with white colorant, as needed. then go around and fill the holes.

then come back and spot-gel the holes

the only wood on a boat should be 70 year old chris crafts, old wooden sail boats or teak.

 

[76SeaRay]

Ok, so back to the drawing board. Since these are small holes, would polyester work with colloidal silica (West 406) or should I use epoxy instead? Just concerned with epoxy that the gelcoat won't stick... Most of the screw and rivet holes are on vertical panels and many are blind holes so can't really tape over the back side for filling. I do have syringes that I can use to inject. Most of the holes are 1/4 inch deep or less.

 

[Scott Danforth]

see post #4

some fumed silica, some small chopped glass, a bit of POLY resin, some colorant......

then come back with gel and touch up.

basically the same mix and process as link 13 in the DIY stickies https://forums.iboats.com/threads/how-tos-and-other-great-information.283508/

 

[76SeaRay]

Ok, thanks... Off to West Marine at lunch time today to see if I can get some small chopped glass although I don't see anything listed as just small chopped glass. They have micro-fiber 403 or maybe 404 listed on their website.. Guess I could try chopping up some CSM into small bits...

 

[GSPLures]

Ok, thanks... Off to West Marine at lunch time today to see if I can get some small chopped glass although I don't see anything listed as just small chopped glass. They have micro-fiber 403 or maybe 404 listed on their website.. Guess I could try chopping up some CSM into small bits...

What I did for chopped glass was take CSM and ran it through a cross cut paper shredder. You have to make sure it is clean so paper bits do not get in it. I just put a trash bag under the head and ran it through, then take it out and pull it apart and run through again. It worked for me but not sure how good it is for the shredder

 

[76SeaRay]

I cut up some CSM last night as fine as I could get it.. I tried filling some vertical holes (on a horizontal surface) with masking tape over the bottom of the holes.. I had trouble trying to get the strand material down in the hole and some trapped bubbles I think.. I used a small dowel to try and tamp it down but not sure that it did that well.. I am thinking it might be better to use enough colloidal silca to make it paste like and then try to get in down in the holes....

 

[Woodonglass]

If you want to make sure the repair doesn’t pop out. Use a countersunk on the front side and don’t tape the back site. Use thickened resin no fibers. Small bit of patch material pushed in hole and let it mushroom on back side. When dry this forms a rivet that won’t pop out

 

[76SeaRay]

Thanks, that seemed to be the way to go next. I will drill out those holes again and make a thick batch so it is more like a paste.. I think I might try making a thin batch of poly to "wet" the hole and then immediately add the paste-like thickened resin... I have a couple of countersink that I was going to use after patching the hole and before the gelcoat so I will countersink before the patch...

 

[sphelps]

Dont forget to give it a good acetone cleaning before you fill the holes ..