Centreboard done, now for the hull!

[Guest]

Thanks for the response to my centreboard query. I'm considering repainting the hull, as it has chunks out of it right down to the fibreglass. I'm a novice at this, but would love to do it myself rather than take it somewhere. Can anyone give me any advice?

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[windandwave]

www.drlaser.org is full of useful advice on repairs.

For deep gouges, provided they don't go all the way through to the other side, you should be able to repair them using an epoxy compound. I'd use the West system pack (definitely better quality and easier to use than the other epoxies, but correspondingly expensive) which gives you a basic epoxy which you reinforce by stirring in microbeads (again, expensive... but welcome to the world of sailing). I used this to repair my fireball, and ended up with a repair that was stronger than the original.

If you clean out the damaged area thoroughly, swab it with acetone, fill the area with the epoxy compound, and apply a flat transparent plastic to the top (those transparent cartons from your local takeaway work wonders), you should end up with a solid repair with very little sanding required to fair it with the rest of the hull. One point though... the repair will be a different colour from the rest of the hull. Not a problem if you're painting over it; but if you plan to re gelcoat the boat then you may have a problem getting the gelcoat to stick to the epoxy (I'm only guessing on that last point... anybody else know how you'd gelcoat over an epoxy repair?)

For comparatively shallow scratches (up to a few mm) you can get simply clean out the scratches and fill them with gelcoat. For details see: http://www.drlaser.org/ILCA/FredBottom.html