Fibreglass Hull Repair

[celticbandit]

Hi,

I have a leak in the hull of my dateline 5.5M. The problem is I can't seem to get rid of the water within the hull to make an effective repair. Let me explain. The hull seems to have a middle layer of honeycomb like fibreglass. The outer layer is damaged on the keel in 2 place. Its basically two small cracks. The water has gotten into the "honeycomb" layer and its held there like in a spong. I can see the water drip out really slowly when I remove the boat from the water. The actual inside of the boat is not wet. I have tried to repair this but with little success. The problem is I can't get the area dry due to the water in the "honeycomb Layer"

How can I repair this type of hull? how do I get the water out so that I can carry out the repair?

Thanks

[Jelly]

Hi
Not being an expert in honey combs etc, but been on the receiving end of rebuilding a transom. I would suggest cutting back the glass to expose the core and letting it dry, you need to keep cutting back till you find dry core. Then once dry rebuild the glass layers. Not a quick or easy job
Rgds
James

[Biggles]

As stated I am also no expert on your type of hull. But the thing with any repair is you have to make what seems like a lot of mess to get it right.

If your having major problems have you got a Marine Yard local you can go for an estimate ?

[celticbandit]

Looks Like I got a bit of work ahead of me the local boat yard is not that reliable so I'll give it a go myself. I started on the job this evening using a vacuum cleaner with the end taped to the boat to suck out water, This is working to some degree.
Do I need to expose much of the good Fibreglass to make the repair. The effected areas is about 6 inches by 3 along the keel.
My plan was to get the area completly dry then rebuild with fibreglass repair kit.
Can you recommend a filler to use over the fibreglass?
Is gelcoat sufficent for small abrasions?


Thanks for the help

[gaelforce]

The weather's promised fine this week - I'd be surprised if it doesn't dry out if you can afford to leave it. I use marine filler available in diy stores.

[pathalla]

This might work for you it did for me some years back. I had a friend who holed his boat on one of the chines in high season, problem was similiar to yours water dripping out defeating any kind of effective repair. What I did was clean the outside of the area as much as possible and open up the hole slightly. I then used a can of that expanding foam sealant used for insulating houses. I shot some of that up into the crack for a little bit and then let it sit overnight. The next morning we trimmed off the excess foam and the repair area was dry as a bone. The expanding sealant damned the water inside hull allowing us to repair the damage, give it a try...

[celticbandit]

Many Thanks to all. I'll let you know how it goes.