Exposed fiberglass under waterline

[kingsebi]

I hit a sandbank today. Quite a bump. Luckily no serious damage. I dived and the impact scraped away antifouling and gelcoat over a small area at the front of the keel. The fiberglass is exposed but intact. Should I haul the boat out as soon as possible? What is likely to happen if I don’t? The boat is a Trident Voyager 35 with full encapsulated keel and thick fiberglass layup. Thank you for any advice.

 

[greeny]

My imediate thoughts would be lift, wash, dry out thoroughly and re gel. Then epoxy primer and anti foul. What will happen if you don't? Water ingress into the glass lay up leading to other problems and the affected area getting larger as time goes on. Will the boat sink - no. So either do it soon and its a small job or leave it and the job may get bigger and more difficult.

 

[LittleSister]

Were you really able to confidently tell from your dive inspection that the GRP layup was completely intact? When were you next going to take the boat out of the water otherwise?

With an encapsulated keel and iron or steel ballast (the norm) it is vital that the GRP 'seal' remains intact. A hole or crack can lead to water reaching the ballast, which then rusts, which expands the ballast and can force outwards the GRP shell of the keel, eventually leading to major cracks which exacerbate and accelerate the problem.

If caught in time this is unlikely to be a major problem, but can in some cases eventually get to be so costly and difficult to rectify that the boat becomes a write off.

 

[kingsebi]

Thank you for the input. I understand about the ballast rusting. I thought the same. Better fix it right away. Too bad, the plan was not to take the boat out of the water for two years.

 

[Trident]

Thank you for the input. I understand about the ballast rusting. I thought the same. Better fix it right away. Too bad, the plan was not to take the boat out of the water for two years.

If you have somewhere you can dry out, scrubbing piles, a beach etc you could fix it between tides. You can clean and check the glass, if its cracked etc then go to haul out. If not just acetone and mix up some flow coat with a decent amount of kick and maybe some help with a hot air gun or hairdryer if you have power and it will set off in a couple of hours completely waterproof . You may even have time to sand and polish it before it gets wet again

 

[kingsebi]

Unfortunately no tides where I am.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Likely there will be no issue with the boat as the encapsulation lay up will be very thick. The exposed GRP will not absorb water, so you can leave. However, boat lifts are not booked up at this time of year, so easy to get a lift out. Once spring approaches I find that they are unavailable for a long time.

 

[kingsebi]

The lay up is very thick indeed. Thank you, I was not sure if the exposed GRP would absorb water or not. Anyways I guess it will be best to address the problem right away.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

The lay up is very thick indeed. Thank you, I was not sure if the exposed GRP would absorb water or not. Anyways I guess it will be best to address the problem right away.

I think that if the glass cloth was fully saturated with resin during the lay up, it's ok. The risk is that the glass might not be fully saturated, allowing water to wick along the fibres. Given that the layup in question is in a part of the mould that is difficult to reach, being both narrow and strongly curved, there must be a possibility that the layup was not as well saturated as it might be elsewhere.

 

[kingsebi]

Interesting. I will have another more thorough look once in clearer water.

 

[Neeves]

Unfortunately no tides where I am.

If you define your location with a bit more detail you may find a member here is local to you, has expertise and can help.

Unlikely to be me , we have tides.

Jonathan

 

[kingsebi]

I’m on the way to Crotone, Italy. They sent me a very reasonable quote for hauling out…

 

[ghostlymoron2]

Inform your insurers, it's an accident against which you should be insured. Book it in for repair. Why do it yourself?
My insurer was very helpful with advice when my boat dragged and drifted into rocks.

 

[kingsebi]

Thank you. That is an idea. I didn’t think about that.

I had another look in clear (albeit a little cold) water and I’m positive that there is no damage to the GRP, it is just exposed over a small area of some square centimeters. Whatever I hit I was lucky.

Once in Crotone I will ask the crane operator if he can keep the boat in the slings for a couple hours, enough time to put on some epoxy and antifouling.