Filling a small hole in the hull

[Tam Lin]

Tam Lin has a hole in the hull where I removed the old fashioned log paddle wheel. It goes right the way through and is about the thickness of a pencil. I have read all about patching large holes, grinding out etc but is this needed for a small one?
My plan is to clean it out and rub back the hull both inside and out then stick a bit of tape over the outside and pour GRP resin into the hole until it is full. Then on the inside stick a couple of layers of CSM down. Outside fill with epoxy filler to tidy up. Anything wrong with this plan?

 

[markhomer]

Lot of effort when dob of epoxy putty would do trick

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

If the hole is not on the very bottom, that is practically horizontal, you might need to thicken the resin to prevent it from running out of the hole. You can do this by adding microfibres until it resembles yoghurt in consistency. If the diameter of the hole is really similar to that of a pencil you might find it easier to mix and apply some Araldite instead of 'normal' resin or else some epoxy putty, as has been suggested. However, I would still add the layers of mat on the inside and possibly one on the outside (even scrim would do here) so as to prevent the 'plug' from coming adrift; yes, I have seen it happen!

 

[Bodach na mara]

Just done it myself and the hole was in a place that was near inaccessible from inside, which I started off by cleaning as well as I could. I then ground back the outside gel-coat using the end of a belt sander as a power file and found that my Westerly has a seriously thick gel coat. I was in about 3mm without exposing any reinforcement. I then applied a proprietary brand of epoxy filler up the hole, where it did not want to stick to the sides. I managed to wedge a bit of wood across the top side of the hole and poked filler up with a stick and this time it did stick to the sides. It then applied several layers of glass tape (course weave) to build up the outside and bonded them on with the epoxy filler. I removed the inside bit of wood and gently smoothed off he blob of filler without pushing it back into the hole. That lot was left to harden for 24 hours, then the outside was treated to another belt sanding to try to remove the spikey bits and get it a bit flat. A final dose of epoxy filler produced a fair surface. This was then painted with epoxy tar.

What I thought was a small job took quite a long time over several days. Maybe a wodge of epoxy putty would work, but make sure the surfaces inside the hole are really clean.

 

[markhomer]

if you are worried about epoxy plug popping out , bevel the hole inside and out before effectively making a double headed epoxy rivit in hole ,if paranoid scrim over , but i wouldnt , not for pencil hole , epoxy is used like this on water tanks (without bevelling ) where water pressure can be considerably more than on a boat hull .

 

[Kwik Decision]

if you are worried about epoxy plug popping out , bevel the hole inside and out before effectively making a double headed epoxy rivit in hole ,if paranoid scrim over , but i wouldnt , not for pencil hole , epoxy is used like this on water tanks (without bevelling ) where water pressure can be considerably more than on a boat hull .

+1 for beveling the hole inside and out and using epoxy. I did this when filling in two 10 mm holes when I removed the redundant hull anode. I also added a strip of fibreglass tape on the inside, as belt and braces, bonded with the same epoxy paste - this stuff in fact:

http://www.force4.co.uk/department/...lastic-padding-marine-epoxy.html#.VRF0ieHrQ40

 

[Fantasie 19]

Does epoxy putty still need a gelcoat for the surface layer??

 

[Tranona]

Does epoxy putty still need a gelcoat for the surface layer??

No. It is water proof. Just prime and paint/antifoul.