Repairing a fibreglass dashboard

[sblake161189]

Hi All,

Please see attached image...

I currently have a 19ft Shetland Microplus and I'm renovating it. The dash is great, I love the smooth white fibreglass however it appears people in the past have drilled holes.

Does anyone know any great methods/products to repair and fill the holes to make the whole dash look smooth.

I know it will probably never look 100% perfect, but anything is better than a hole in your dashboard.

Thanks in advance

 

[rob2]

You can simply fill the holes with filler leaving slightly below the surface and finish off with gelcoat filler (Araldite make one in a tube), but the chances are that although white, it won't completely colour match the original. if not, then unless you're magic with colour mixing and matching, you'll have to paint the finished surface, either with paint or flowcoat.

Rob.

 

[sblake161189]

Thanks @rob2,

I think it filled in (but a slight colour change) is loads better than just an empty hole on my dashboard.

Thanks for the advice, ill get myself on eBay now

 

[maby]

The most difficult bit is going to be getting a colour match...

If the holes are not already countersunk, lightly countersink them.

Working from behind the panel, glue patches of fibreglass cloth over the holes with a clear epoxy - Araldite should be ok, and you can buy it in small quantities. Spread a thin coat of epoxy over the fibreglass cloth from the back of the panel - when it's set you can lightly sand it to get a smooth finish.

Fill the holes from the front with a smooth epoxy based filler such as Plastic Padding or Isopon, leaving a small depression. Give it time to set properly, then skim the holes over with gelcoat filler - try to smooth it off well with a spatula before it sets.

With a bit of luck, if the holes are small, you will not need to sand the finished repair. If you do, use a wet-and-dry paper - the finest grit you can find - and don't sand any further from the repair than is necessary. Finally, cut it in with a fine cutting compound - Halfords should have something suitable...

 

[sblake161189]

Thanks @maby for that information...

I did think about wet + dry sanding to smooth it off, just wanted someone else to say 'do it' as i didnt want to make a big mistake...

 

[PCUK]

Plastic Padding do a white Gel-coat filler which is easy to use. Probably won't be an exact match but near enough. You will also need to chamfer the edges of each hole into a crater shape to ensure that the new filler doesn't crack at the join.

 

[sblake161189]

Thanks @PCUK for that... I've seen that in chandlery's but didnt want to purchase without checking with the experts on here

 

[late-night-lochin]

How about fitting a new decoratve panel over the existing panel in aluminium, carbon fibre, wood grain or what ever?

 

[sblake161189]

Hi @late-night-lochin,

I have considered this, but have not felt confident enough to do it as I feel it might not look good as I would hope.

Do you know of any examples or similar dashboards that have been covered?

 

[Nautorius]

One alternative is to use the Stick on Carbon Fibre Effect Dash which you can buy from Halfords. I did this on a previous boat which was great. Easy to do, you put it on with a hairdryer and then it cools and shrinks ti fit with no bubbles.

Paul

 

[sblake161189]

Thanks @Nautorius,

I was thinking that a while back... get a panel and coat it in the stick on stuff... just dont know which 'effect' will look the best.

I want to match the rest of theme as per images...

 

[maby]

Try filling the holes first - will not take long or cost very much and the result may be fine. If not, you've only wasted a few hours and a few quid and you can still go for the stick-on options.

 

[sblake161189]

Thank @maby...

I will probably do that and see how it goes.

Any opinions on the colour of dials/gauges on white fibreglass? White or Black? For example... http://www.datcon.com/products/2hdmarine.htm

 

[maby]

Thank @maby...

I will probably do that and see how it goes.

Any opinions on the colour of dials/gauges on white fibreglass? White or Black? For example... http://www.datcon.com/products/2hdmarine.htm

My taste in such things is notoriously bad! Personally I would go for white, but I guess that black would give a retro look... What are you going for?

 

[sblake161189]

My brain is saying "get white!" but my heart wont do it...

I'm a designer so colour choices should be simple

I think I will play with some images on photoshop and see which looks better...

 

[cliff]

Obtain a few NEW plastic spreaders from your local automotive refinisher - they are like the ones that come with plastic padding but bigger.
Slightly countersink the holes from the outside, mix a little gel coat filler, spread a blob over the plastic spreader - slightly bigger than the hole ø and about 2~3mm thk then place the spreader over the hole and press into place with a flat piece of wood. While holding teh spreader in place work the gel coat filler from the back to ensure it has covered the hole than apply something like chopped glass filler from the back again ensuring you hold the spreader firmly in place. Allow to set and lift off the spreader - the gel coat filler does not stick to the spreader material and you should have a lovely smooth surface requiring little more that a burnish with G3 - no need for wet-n-dry or the like scratching the original gelcoat. finally if you want you can buff off the rear of the repair and lay on a patch of woven roving if you feel you need the extra reinforcement.

 

[late-night-lochin]

Hi Sam

I wasn't thinking "stick on stuff" but more along the lines of a solid material between 1 and 3mm thick that was screwed on rather than glued on.

Even if you restored the GRP, which isn't that difficult, you'd probably want to move things or change things in the future and you'd be back to square one.

With a detachable panel, if you wanted to change instruments around; you could, at worst, make good any holes in the GRP structure below the panel that caused you a problem but not worry about cosmetics. If the old holes didn't cause a problem you could ignore them and just replace the panel.

Cheers and all the best

 

[sblake161189]

Thanks for that information @cliff, that was very usefull...

@late-night-lochin... that does seem quite a good idea for the future... Im not sure of the exact material you are refering too... does it come pre covered in the wood or carbon fibre effect etc?

 

[late-night-lochin]

Hi Sam

There are numerous materials you could use: decorative laminate such as Formica or Trespa, painted sheet metal such as aluminium, brushed stainless steel sheet etc.

I did see a carbon fibre looking material at the boat show that was being used for custom instrument panels. I thing that was about 3mm thick but I cant remember where I saw it. Try Googling something like "carbon fibre instrument panels for boats"

You'd want something where the edges were neat and well finished, Ive seen leather-grain plastic applied to sheet metal but exposed edges would look untidy. Leather-grain Formica might look ok. Wood grain Formica is used on boat instrument panels - can look naff though.

You could use 6mm Corian or similar - you could bevel the edges on somehing like that and it should look very neat.

Well that's only five minutes of thinking so why don't you spend halfhour og Googling?