repair issue with fiberglass

[Jim Brone]

Hi, I made a bit of a booboo in the hull of my boat. Let's just say I got a new marine VHS radio and while mounting the dock station for it I sort of put a screw in the floor and out the bottom. How can I fix this??? It's a hole about the diameter of a Q-tip head. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Mike Ratko]

In the short term, you can use a fibreglass body filler for small hole. That will stop the leak. You can alway epoxy some fibreglass cloth on the inside to reinforce the patch but that will probably not be necessary.



On the outside, you will have to sand your repair job flush. You can apply a gelcoat to the hull to blend in with the rest of the finish.



Good luck.



Mike

 

[Jim Brone]

Cool, that sounds relatively easy. Where might I get some of that fiber glass body filler? Thanks

 

[Mike Ratko]

Any auto body shop or boat supply store.

 

[Tony Payne]

doh!



This is what I would suggest:

http://www.marinetex.com/PRODUCT PAGE_files/All MarineTex Putty/marinetex prod info.htm

 

[TritonGlenn]

I did the same thing with one of my first boats, but I was installing battery trays in the rear and went WAY too far through the fiberglass (don't talk with buddies while drilling on your boat). I put a piece of masking tape on the bottom of the boat where the hole was, and then mixed up some 2 part fiberglass resin with the correct coloring agent in it, sucked some into a syringe I got from a hobby shop, and squirted it though the hole I made from the top. It filled the hole perfectly. When I took the tape off, there was a bit of fiberglass resin that had pooled up on the tape, but that was easily removed with some light wet sanding and a bit of rubbing compound... finished off with some 3M "Finesse-it". You couldn't even tell where the hole used to be.

All the best,

Glenn

 

[Jim Brone]

Thanks guys