Small hole below water line

[fishingjoey]

There is a small hole in the bottom of my boat on the port side at the bow. The hole is a small mabye a quarter size and was caused when the previous owner must have hit it on the trailer because the stem of the trailer should have been about six inches further toward the back of it. I was going to sand and paint the entire bottom and repair that small rupture. I was thinking of using marine tex and then fiberglass over it. Does this sound like an adequate enough way to repair this damage? I tested the area around it and there is no water in there that I can see anyway.

[Bryan A.]

I would avoid the Marine Tex and use epoxy or poly resin with cabosil or milled fibers or both . The epoxy would have the best bond strength, depends on what paint you are going to use. I'm sure other seasoned fiberglas guys will chime in also.

[oldbluesplayer]

I'll second what Bryan said - skip the Marine tex, and just use resin and cloth / matt. standard repair - feather the edges back. Preferably apply repair from both inside and outside. You should get a copy of the West Systems book on doing this stuff, even if you don't end up using their products - though I would recommend using epoxy for this, over polyester, as it has a much higher secondary bond strength.

just my .02

Bill

[joseeli8797]

It does not sound like the hole is big enough for any structural or future delamination issues, you can fill it with a gelcoat cabosil mix [gelcoat paste]and that will fix it hard as a rock you can sand & paint or simply buff it out, Good luck.