Chips out of bottom/transom gelcoat...

[kotzebuecdory]

A series of unfortunate events (windshift, currents, passing barges) led my craft to pull its bow anchor the other day. It wallowed on shore for about half an hour before I realized what had happened (not a rocky shore but definitely "gravelly"). After getting it on the trailer I noticed a couple of "chips" out of the gelcoat/exterior revealing what looks like fiberglass matting. The chips were where the transom meets the bottom and on the side "keel". What can I do to re-seal the matting and make it look good again?

[Sea Wolf]

kotzebuecdory-

Sorry to hear about your hull! There are at least three ways to handle this:

1. Take it back to the factory or a local marine shop that can do a professional job on it. They'll use original gel coat material and a procedure that will make it virtually impossible to see that there's been any damage or repair to the boat. This is the most expensive alternative, but preserves your investment best, especially if it's a relatively new boat.

2. Look up "gel coat repair" with Google and read several articles about the procedure. Depending on your skill level and whether you have a few tools available, determine if the Do It Yourself mode might work for you. This procedure requires some skill and experience in wording with fiberglass and / or paints. Contact the factory for the matching original color of gel coat material needed.

3. A simpler Do It Yourself method would be to carefully fill in the missing voids with Marinetex epoxy based fiberglass filler, a first class Bondo like product for marine use. The voids need to be carefully filled until level and sanded flat. Best to do this in several applications to not overfill too much and cause problems getting it back to level as the Marinetex is very hard to sand once it gets hard. If you've done body work on cars and are experienced, you may be willing to try this approach. The color can be matched by tinting the appliance white Marinetex down with a universal color match system to match the off-white hull. Alternately, the area can be sprayed with epoxy paint of a matching color, fogging it in near the edges, then, after throughly hardening, wet sanding it out with very fine wet/dry sandpaper and final polishing.

Others may have another alternative for you, but those are some to consider for now! Good Luck! Joe.

[Aiviq]

Bummer! For the non-Alaskan crowd, Kotzebue is a large (3,000 is large in Alaska) Inupiaq community just above the Arctic Circle in North West Alaska. It's off of the road system (way off); so I'm guessing a trip to the factory won't be an option for Kotzebuecdory. He'd have to fly or barge it to Seattle. Spendy.

Red Fox did some extensive bottom gel-coat repairs on his boat, and documented it very nicely with descriptions and photos. It’s on the site somewhere. Look that up - should give you some ideas.

Jim

[Salmon Slayer]

As Sea Wolfe said, the Marine-Tex method works well and is in the skill level of virtually anyone who owns a boat.

I beach my boat fairly often and have made a number of these repairs with good results; particularly when its below the water line and covered with bottom paint!

[New Hampshire Guy]

Has anybody tried the Keel Guard product? We are installing it on new boats for customers who expect ( through tides etc) to have the boat aground from time-to-time.
Might be worth it to fill the chips and then cover with these Poly strips for the "Next" time. Very easy to get and apply, and if it saves you even one season from having to pull and repair the boat would surely be worth the money and time invested. It even comes in colors to match the bottom (or bottom paint).
Just a thought...
Fair winds!
John
Y-Landing

[Captains Cat]

John, do they make these strips for the transom (where his damage is), or just for the bow, where I've seen them used effectively?

charlie

[Sealife]

I tried the Keel Guard, but returned it because it made my boat look too "plastic". It may be ok for water ski boats and such, but not for a salty boat like a c-Dory. What I wound up using was a length of stainless rubrail that's sold at most marine hardware stores in various lengths. You can bend it to fit the shape of the bow, and comes pre-dirilled to accept screws. Just be careful on drilling into the hull. Don't go to far in or risk getting water in there. Also, seal real well any screw holdes with 5200. I actually used this for an edging on my bow to protect against a swinging anchor when retreiving it.

[Chivita]

Kotzebuecdory.

You could do the repair youself pretty easily, but your biggest problem is going to be HEAT! You'll need to find a way to perform the repair in an enclosed area that can be kept at 50 degrees at the very least for the entire time it takes the epoxy to cure. The warmer the area the faster the cure. As it froze down here it Sitka last night, I imagine you are a bit colder. Most epoxy manufacturers suggest at least 60 degrees or more. You can get hardeners that are designed for lower temps, but as I remember, 50 degrees was pushing it! A heat lamp can help, so long as you don't get the rest of the hull too hot.

I had to perform some major hull repair on a different boat using epoxy, and so long as you read up on it first and prepare yourself for the messy drips and such, I pretty sure someone used to living in your area could do one hell of a good repair job, but you HAVE to have a dry warm area or epoxy will not harden. It becomes a sticky gooey mess.

Make sure you don't get any of the epoxy on your bare skin as it builds up in your system and you can become very allergic to it. My one piece of not to well known advice is to buy a gallon of white vinegar before you start. Vinegar cleans fresh epoxy better than anything I have found and it's a lot cheaper!

[KenMcC]

In my own humble opinion, breeches of the gelcoat are more aesthetic than structural. Under that gelcoat are multiple layers of fiberglass matting (Roving) that are laminated with many applications of epoxy resin. That in itself is impervious to leakage. The Gelcoat adds the finishing touch, which does add an additional layer of protection, but it is mostly designed for appearance.

Trust the initial laying down of the fiberglass roving and the layering of the epoxy resin. Therein lies your security!

Ken

[DodgeRam]

Mike I am very surprised that you think that the Kell Gard look too plastic. It is one of the first thing I did to my boat, is installed the Kell Gard on the bow, it looks and works very well ,
. The fit is perfect. wouldn't be without it . I am sure there is other C-Brat that installed it that are happy!... Gary SEARAM

[DaveS]

[Rabidfish]

I agree with John and the guys on the Keel Guard.
It's not hard to install, but you do NEED to follow the instructions.
Everything is in the kit. Also, it has a lifetime warranty. AND they honor it!

I have installed dozens on all kinds of boats. This year I had two come off.
The "glue" was still stuck to the boat, so it was a manufacturing issue, not an application issue. We had to send in pics, but the new kits arrived in a few days... One was a boat that we didn't install, and the owner had no receipt... they still honored the warranty.

As for looking "plastic"... How much more "plastic" does it get? I mean... it's fiberglass, for Pete's sake! You can't get much more plastic than that!
Unless it's a Walker Bay boat, or something like that. I would trade for the protection any day!

[Pat Anderson]

I am still dazed...just returned from the C-Dory factory, where I picked up Daydream, was in for 100 hour service and some gelcoat / glass repairs (my stupid) - the service was fine, but the repairs, ouch - $680...I NEED to learn how to do this repair stuff myself. Jeff Messmer - how about setting up classes in the evenings? I'd pay $500 for you guys to TEACH me how to do the gelcoat repairs...really.