Deck Drain Frustrations!

[TunaMeltdown]

Ok here it is so far. I got out of work early yesterday so I could get the tubes filled in, with the hopes I could drill them out this weekend and install the new moeller drains. This was my first time ever using west systems and doing any kind of fiberglass work Thank god for first grade paper mache class. Any how I tried to use duct tape to seal the bottom of the holes and fill the tube with thickend epoxy. WRONG. It only took about 2 minutes for the duct tape to fail and my epoxy to be all over the lawn. Then I took 2 small squares of fiberglass and slathered them in epoxy and let them get tacky and then stuck them in place and let them dry. (Thanks John) I let them dry in place over night and this morning they were hard as a rock. So quickly before work at 6am, I mixed up a really thick batch of epoxy and poured it down in the tubes and then placed another small fiberglass patch on the top to tie it in with the deck.
I was working by myself so I was only able to snap one picture.
[image][/image]

[kitebuz]

Why is it no job is ever as simple as it seems...

You may already be planning this, but the rule of thumb in filling holes is to grind back and glass over an area in a 12:1 ratio to your hull thickness - if your hull is 1" thick, then grind back a 12" diameter surface, and feather it for how many layers of glass you plan to use.

Granted you are really only reducing the diameter of your hole vs permanently covering it. You might want to use a few layers of glass over it & feather out some where the 1st layer or two is bonding to straight fiberglass, not gelcoat. What did you use to thicken the epoxy?

[TunaMeltdown]

I used the west systems #404 filler. That is what they (people at West Marine) recomended.

[Seacraft84]

I second the last two post. Painters tape and grind the hole down to the glass. Removing the gelcoat. Cut small squares or cicles, however you grind it out, and make them bigger untils it over laps the gelcoat and then sand smooth. Usually about 4-6 layers depending how deep you grind it out.

[kitebuz]

404 is good filler to use w/ what you're doing, & what SC84 describes is on the money.

Here is a your almost exact scenario explained on West's how-to site:

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/repairi...in-fiberglass/

Scroll down to the "Zone 3 - high risk" section. Instead of making a puck in a paper cup, you kinda just made it in place, which will work fine. Just need to grind it back some now to give yourself a clean surface for a few layers of glass.

Have you checked out how Strick (& others) mounted his seacock to a glassed over plywoood plate?

[wtenglish]

I've had good luck using painters tape to assist in filling holes. It seems to hold pretty good.