[Glyndoree]

I am new to this forum, been on a few others but this one seems better. Anyway, down to the problem; I removed my boat from the trailer in my back yard, sea eagle 166, to modify my trailer ( electric winch fitted for launching and retrieving on my own off a beach ). unfortunately doing this i damaged the lower edge of the transom, where it meets the underneath of the hull. I have taken a chunk of the gelcoat off down the matting. The chunk is about 2 inches long by around 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide. Any ideas as to the best way of repairing this. I don't know as yet if water is seeping through to the inside of the hull as I have not tested it! I have read a few other threads and know not to use car filler, I have done some filling on the top decks with a gelcoat filler, would this be OK?

 

[Guest]

Gel coat will do the trick but if the chunk is very deep build it up in layers allowing enough time for each layer to set thoroughly before applying the next one.

 

[alankirby]

Welcome to the site,
Have a look here, it might give you an idea of whats involved in your repair.
Its a very similar repair to what you need by the sounds of it.
Its an american site but the same principles apply here.

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html


Alan

 

[Tony H]

Some good advice in the previous posts one thing to add is to make sure the repair area is bone dry especially exposed matting) before you add new mat or gelcoat. Gentle heating with a hairdryer is a good meathod of removing damp, as long as she who has to be obeyed doesn't catch you doing it:whistling

 

[Salar]

I've done that many times over the years. You can buy a gel coat repair kit from a good yacht chandlers. Fill slightly over sized, then when it is set but before it goes really rock hard, sand down with wet and dry used wet, getting finer and finer until you use 1000 grade and have a perfectly smooth finish. It will now be matt not shiny. Then polish with a fibreglass cutting compound and I would hazard a bet that you will not be able to see the damage (as long as you have a reasonable colour match with the original gel coat). As a final touch you can apply 2 coats of polish but as it is at the bottom of the transom that is hardly worth it.

 

[ChrisP]

If you use thickened gell coat or gellcoat repair paste on a deep chip it can slump down. To stop it get a bit of thick clingfilm and smooth it over the repaired area. It will hold it in place and give you a smooth surface which will require minimal sanding and polishing to blend it in.

 

[Glyndoree]

Cheers lads, seems easy enough, shall pick up some gelcoat repair and set to it. As long as my repair ends up water proof, but there again no real time limit so I can chop it all back out and try it again and again. As they say practice makes perfect.

 

[Guest]

Advice as all the others above.
Before you slap in the gel, double check you haven't actually eaten into the glass matt itself.
If some of this has been taken out then you may want to add a few chopped strands of GRP matt first with some resin to build it back to the original laminate.
The add the gel coat.