Glass Boat Repair

[smwwoody]

Hi I am working on my 22' olympic. I have the floors and the water logged foam ripped out. I don't think I am going to put any foam back in. I do want to put 2 belly tanks in one for gas and one for fresh water. I also need to fix a crack in the keel. I need some advice on all of this.

- West System epoxy

- How to lay out the floor supports with the belly tanks

- Foam or no foam

Thanks

Woody

 

[Snowwolfe]

You might try posting this on the Hull Truth. Those guys know alot

 

[Paul H]

I'd contact the manufacturer to confirm, but I believe most glass boats use polyester resin, not epoxy. Once you confirm the resin used, get some, and some matte cloth if polyester, or woven if epoxy. Matte is muhc easier to work with, but more compatable with polyester.

I've done a bit of glass work over the years. What I use is an angle grinder with a 36 gr wheel and bevel out the area away from the crack. Let's say your glass is 1/4" thick at that point. You'll want to grind the crack down to a feather edge tapering back to the full thickness about 2" away from the crack all the way around, and scuff up another inch back.

Then put a layer of masking tape on the oustide of the crack to keep the resin from dripping out. Mix up 6-8 ounces of resin, and using a 2" disposable brush, brush resin over the entire are you sanded. Then take some matte cloth that you cut to size of the entire area and lay it down over the resin. Use the brush to work out any air bubbles working from the inside out, and brush on more resin to wet. Then rip a piece of matte about 1" smaller all the way around, lay it down, repeat with the resin, and go to a smaller patch and repeat. Your patch should be built up to about one matte layer thicker than the original laminate. Whenever repairing a crack, always make the repair thicker, if it cracked once...

When the resin is cured, remove the tape. Use some rough paper to clean up the outside and use some bondo to fill any pineholes or low spots. Sand fair, prime and paint.