Nice crack I just found on the keel...

[Yamtt125]

I started to grind away at the 3 ft section with the crack, and this is what i found...

-the wood from the center stringer in in good shape.
-it looks like there is a small gap between the stringer and the hull that was once filled with a cabosil mixture, but since then has broken up.

Just incase anybody had a question, this section in in the forward part of the boat. The mid and rear of the boat seems fine. If I was to flip the boat, would I be able to fix her that way? From what I can tell by looking at the stringer near the transom, the center stringer is in good condition.

[Finster]

Yamit, that's a tough repair and should unfortunately be done from the inside. I've been down that road and all my efforts to make the repairs from the outside always returned, plus it's very difficult to fare out with the thickness of glass you'll need to layup. And the area you'll need to cover needs to be much larger than what you have sanded.

Good luck.

[Yamtt125]

Fin,
To me, its a really wierd situation..i'm still trying to think of why this happened, and the best thing that i can come up with is abuse from being beached ALOT. The pressure from the wieght of the boat being put on that small amount of glass on the bottom makes sense, and all of the scratches would also make sense.
The glass that is around the wood center stringer on the inside of the boat seems to be in good condition. In the first 2 pics, this can kinda be seen, but the view isn't the best.
I still don't know what i'm gonna do..

Does anybody have pics of similar projects and how they solved it?

-andrew

[Finster]

abuse from being beached ALOT

From the sinario's I've seen that's been the culprit. Not to say improper trailing couldn't do it either. Or a combo of both.

Even something as stupid as this that happened last weekend next to my house (please note silly geezer to the right that couldn't keep his mug out of every frig'n pic).

[FELLOW-SHIP]

The thing that needs to be determined First of all, is this a Structural problem? Or is this just a hole because of some sort of damage like the picture of the over anxious boater who launched his boat before he got to the dock.
If this is Structural then the best way is the Only way to do it. If this is just a hole in a very bad location you could go with the easy way.

The best way:
Go in from the inside first remove stringer build up area that stringer was with woven roven starting with 3 pieces 18” wide then 3 pieces 12” wide the 3 pieces 6” wide in the area of the hole going 2 feet in front and behind then building a lateral bulk head from port to starboard stringer for additional structural support using lots of glass. Then you can use the vacuum bag approach or flip the boat and build up the bottom to approx ½” glass thickness then gel coat and bottom paint.
For me the Best Way is the Only Way to go.

But for the easy way:
Sand the bottom paint off and get to the gel coat 1 Foot wide on both sides of the center line and inspect for additional cracks grind a little further forward and back of the hole to confirm you got all the cracks out feather it out more, flip the boat or vacuum bag the hole and HOPE you fixed it instead of just putting a bandage over a skin cancer.

If you are right and someone worked on this area before than forget the bandage and go for the best way.

There is a lot of sweat equity in this one really not that much $$ to fix it. 2 Gal of epoxy and glass and Lots of Beer will do it. Getting to the area doing the work putting it back together again would be Lots of work.

FellowShip

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My motto: Just for the Grins

[jwclbi]

Finster, Looks like those guys are bringing new meaning to the term "roll on" trailer, or in this case "roll off??"

[Yamtt125]

Finster,
and the boat was in MA, so the beaches most likely were not soft sand.

Fellow...
the glass directly under the stringer, where the hole is, is not 1/2 in thick, you can see that by the pics above. But, i do believe that the glass on the hull on both sides of the stringer is 1/2 in..you can just tell by knocking on it...if that makes sense, and i know the hull near the transom is pretty damn think, so i expect it is all like this.. Is it normal for there to be the differrent thicknesses?

I don't think its a structural problem, like i said before, the glass feels and looks very solid, and you can't see any delamitation of the glass where it joins the stringer and the hull. Sorry if what i'm saying is confusing...its hard to explain, but thanks for the help thus far.
-andrew

[Bryan A.]

Just my .02 but I think if you were able to flip the boat, you could get an effective repair from the outside. Like the others said use epoxy and grind farther back than you think you need to.

Maybe I missed it but is the boat a 20 or 23?
Keep us posted.

[Bryan A.]

In case you are like me and need a visual like me. This is from the West System website.



Do this from the outside. but be sure to grind out around the crack area unlike it shows in the graphic. Hope that helps. Good luck.

[FELLOW-SHIP]

Ha Yamtt;

One of the things I and many of the other guys on this sight have done and practice all the time is to always do the job Better and Stronger than the original Seacraft’s were built. Not that the boat was built poorly originally but to simply improve at a little “kick it up a notch”. The boat might not have been ½ inch thick originally but look what has happened. It was either sanded of by beaching over ruff terrain, or the boat hit a object under the water like a rock or a tree. By over building, If it is that in this area is a safety practice. You could either build up the keel from the eye cleat all the way back to the center of the boat with four then two inch strips of glass and then just filler in form the old hull gelcoat into the new keel thickness. Cosmetically you would not notice and now you got more glass there. If you go in from the inside you could build up from the inside and your ½” thick that way.


FellowShip
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Just for the Grins