Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated

193 Pages·2010·18.24 MB·English

by  Roger Marshall

Fiberglass
Boat Repairs
Illustrated
ii • HOW FIBERGLASS BOATS ARE BUILT
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Fiberglass
Boat Repairs
Illustrated
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Also by Roger Marshall
All About Powerboats
The Complete Guide to Choosing a Cruising Sailboat
Designed to Cruise
Designed to Win
Rough Weather Seamanship for Sail and Power
Sail Better
Yacht Design Details
Copyright © 2010 by Roger Marshall. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Chapter 1 HOW FIBERGLASS BOATS ARE BUILT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Fiberglass Hulls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Hull Reinforcements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Hull Liners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Interior Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Deck Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Hull-to-Deck Joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 2 IDENTIFYING DAMAGE TO A BOAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Hull Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Deck Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Rudder Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Other Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Chapter 3 MATERIALS, TOOLS, AND BASIC TECHNIQUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Basic Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Chapter 4 GELCOAT RESTORATION AND COSMETIC REPAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Gelcoat Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Gelcoat Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Chapter 5 MINOR STRUCTURAL REPAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Before You Start Any Repair Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Repairs to a Single-Skin Laminate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Repairs to a Cored Laminate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Repairing or Installing a Bulkhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Reinforcing a Flat Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Replacing Missing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Chapter 6 HULL, KEEL, AND RUDDER FAIRING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Fairing a Hull. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Fairing a Keel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Fairing a Rudder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 7 MAJOR REPAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Project #1: Making an Engine-Well Guard
to Keep Water Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Project #2: Replacing Rotten Floors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Project #3: Replacing a Water-Damaged Deck Core . . . . . . . . . 123
Project #4: Repairing a Rotten Transom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Project #5: Repairing Major Grounding Damage . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Project #6: Replacing a Foredeck Hatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Project #7: Repairing Damage to a Cored Hull. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Chapter 8 OSMOSIS AND BLISTER REPAIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
DIY Blister Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Professional Blister Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Blistering Caused by Valiant’s Fire-Retardant Resin . . . . . . . . . 157
Protecting against Osmosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chapter 9 FINISHING YOUR REPAIR WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Sanding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Appendix BUILDING A SHELTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
vviiiiii •• HHOOWW FFIIBBEERRGGLLAASSSS BBOOAATTSS AARREE BBUUIILLTT
Acknowledgments
A
s usual with any technical book, many Archibald and Xavier Martinez of Jamestown
people have provided expertise on specifi c Boat Yard, and Steve Anderson of J & J Marine of-
materials and projects, as well as ideas and fered advice and technical help whenever I asked.
thoughts. These folks deserve many thanks for And as you can see from the pictures, Jim Archi-
their help, advice, and patience. One constant bald offered more than just help, providing many
source of aid and advice is my wife Mary who of the images that illustrate Chapters 6 and 7.
patiently edited my disorganized paragraphs and Bob Donat and Jim Seidel of Interlux offered
made sure that the words meant exactly what information on fi nishes and paints that produced
they said. She also tolerated fi berglass parts, sol- stellar results on many of the projects. Thanks too
vents, boats, paints, and other gear on the deck, to Jock West of JWI, and to Scot West of Ronstan
the driveway, the garage, and wherever else I was for parts, images, and information that improved
working at the time. My sons, David and Michael, this book and upgraded several of the book’s
made a big contribution by fi nding boat projects projects.
for me to help with—no matter how overloaded I Finally, thanks to the many folks who have
was with other work! Some of the boats shown in helped me judge the NMMA’s Innovation Awards
these pictures belong to them. and the METS DAME awards in Holland over the
Outside my immediate family, Jan Mundy, years. Their questions and answers have improved
Editor of DIY-Boat Owner, read the manuscript this book immeasurably. In addition, seeing new
and not only offered many words of advice, but products, fabrics, and fi berglass techniques, espe-
also enclosed articles and stories from her maga- cially at the IBEX show where they are often on
zine to illustrate points that I may have missed display, has helped formulate some of the back-
or erred on. Besides Jan, Mo Mancinni and ground to this book. To all of you, thanks.
Mike Irving of Connanicut Marine Service, Jim
viii
HOW FIBERGLASS
Chapter 1
BOATS ARE BUILT
B
efore you can begin repairing or rebuilding a
FIBERGLASS HULLS
fi berglass boat, you need to understand how
it is put together. Such knowledge will also Just as a cotton sheet drapes over a mattress,
tell you when a contemplated repair job is worth a sheet of fiberglass material conforms to the
the time and money, and when it is likely to be so shape of any object into which or over which it is
difficult or costly that you’d be better served to draped. Only when resin is added to the fi berglass
give up on the boat. and allowed to cure does the fi berglass shape be-
Consider, for example, a boat with a foam- come fi xed. But what does fi berglass get draped
cored hull that has been holed in a collision. over or into to create the shape of a hull or any of
You need to determine how to get to the back the other parts that go into the construction of a
of the hole. This usually means cutting away the boat? The answer, of course, is a mold.
damaged section of the outer fi berglass skin, or Amold can be either female or male. The fi n-
laminate, pulling out the core around the hole, ished part fits inside a female mold or over the
repairing or replacing the inner fiberglass skin, outside of a male mold, the choice depending
fi lling the area with new core material, and fi nally upon whether the inside or outside surface of the
replacing the outer laminate. If you are not famil- part is intended to be the smooth, fi nished sur-
iar with fiberglass composite construction, you face. Since the outside surface of a hull is the one
could spend more time than the boat is worth just we present to the world and want to have mirror-
trying to get it apart. smooth, a fi berglass hull is usually laminated in
This chapter’s aim is to avoid such problems a female mold. Most boats built today also have
by familiarizing you with the materials and meth- a smooth interior liner, which fits into the hull
ods of fi berglass boat construction. Entire books somewhat like a garbage bag fi ts inside a kitchen
have been written on this subject. Though this trash can, and into which the cabin or cockpit
chapter is only an overview, it will provide suf- furniture is molded. This part, also known as a
fi cient background for the repairs a boatowner or pan (see the Hull Liners section on page 22), is
small shop is likely to do. made in a separate fi berglass mold.
1