How to repair screw holes in hull ? and flocoat issues.

[fastasfox]

If you have read my other posts you will know things are moving on at a pace with my Tornado restoration project.
I left it last week by asking the question "should I remove the keel guard" and as stated I wanted to see if it just popped off if I removed the screws and what sort of damage would i find underneath....in short yes it popped off and No it wasn't covering up any damage....but as you will see in the pictures.......boy what a lot of work.
I have cleaned the hull up and I'm left with a lot of tiny screw holes and some curious pitting towards the stern..the little pitting marks will fill easily but im concerned about the screw holes as I don't want the filling to fail causing a bullseye or halo if you like. I have an idea....and please don't think I'm mad and allow it to absorb a while before ripping me a new one.....I thought about using cotton buds...it's ok you can laugh...but here is the idea, Clean the hole with slightly bigger drill bit and countersink. I will cut cotton bud in half and dip in resin then carefully pushing into hole befor pulling it back out a little and allowing the bud to mushroom on the underside . I will let it harden before cutting off half way down the countersink hole and filling that with resin too (see drawing). If you have experience with fiberglass then please feel free to share with this unexperienced fiberglasser. With the holes filled I want to paint the area marked out in tape with a gloss black flocoat...black because i feel it would look better than a miss matched orange.
Having done what I can on the hull I then flipped it over to sand the deck clean it with Acetone and paint it with orange flocoat......everything was great until I opened the tin of flocoat....It was a none slip flocoat ie it had grit in it. I painted a little on a bit of plastic just to see how it looked and if I'm honest I wouldn't be keen to paint the whole deck with it and I dare say it would trap dirt like a bugger....again see pictures. I asked for flocoat to paint my deck i didn't mention none slip so hopefully they will swap it...£54 a tin.
Deck painting abandoned I set about stripping the electrics out of the console and cleaning the steering cable power leads and main harness (they were grubby) all came up nice and clean except the power leads...Ok I will replace them...I need around 10 meters of the tinned copper 70oc .....a quick search and ya know what...i think i need to scrub a little harder as the cable is around £150/200 wow. The console is now bare and the only casualty was the black plastic cover underneath the steering wheel...it was screwed on with ordinary steel screws and the were proper rusty...they are the only one's I found on the whole hoat that weren't stainless steel. Can you buy that plastic cover on it's own? My Plan for the console is to wrap it in gloss black vinyl and contrast it by usia good quality carbon look vinyl or even a real sheet if i can find it to stick on where the controls go.
That's it for now.
Advice as ever is taken on board ....but go easy on the cotton bud idea.....i think it has leg's lol.

[spartacus]

Good job tidying that hull. I knew you’d remove the keel-guard. Considering there was enough metal on it to make a new Fiat 500, it was worth it.

[Barrel Rider]

I would use a countersink bit to make the screw holes a conical shape then fill them with thickened epoxy

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by spartacus

Good job tidying that hull. I knew you’d remove the keel-guard. Considering there was enough metal on it to make a new Fiat 500, it was worth it.

It ate away at me lol.
The guard had a couple of cracks and I know water got behind it because of all the sand.... glad there wasn't any damage to speak of.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Barrel Rider

I would use a countersink bit to make the screw holes a conical shape then fill them with thickened epoxy

What would you thicken the resin with?

[Orwell boy]

Have you checked out east coast fibreglass tutorials on their site ?

[paintman]

Originally Posted by Barrel Rider

I would use a countersink bit to make the screw holes a conical shape then fill them with thickened epoxy

Agreed.
IME if you don't & also don't roughen the surface then the filler can crack away from the edges of the hole.
Same happens with screwholes in aluminium & car bodywork, on both of which I find dishing the area around the hole slightly works best.
If you can access both sides it's better.

Might be simpler to use a marine epoxy filler if you're just dealing with screw holes as it won't need thickener.
I've used the Plastic Padding one for such jobs & it's been fine.

I've used West Systems 105/205 epoxy (104 Junior pack kit) & their 404 filler powder above the waterline for bigger holes on my own boat - poorly repaired previous damage where screws had pulled out & been bodged by previous owner(s), including plastic wallplugs - but never used it below the waterline so can't comment on how good it would be.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Orwell boy

Have you checked out east coast fibreglass tutorials on their site ?

That's where i got my fiberglass stuff from along with the flocoat. I have watched a few of there videos for chips etc.

[fastasfox]

A few more pictures inc that none slip flocoat.

[FoxZulu]

You've done an excellent job of cleaning up the area where the keel guard was but it is too glossy to apply flo-coat to - it needs a key, so flat it back to a nice matt finish (120 - 240 grit wet and dry). As said above, drill the screw holes out to remove any crud, countersink, and fill with a marine grade 2-part epoxy resin. Leave it to cure for 48 hrs, then sand and flat ready for flo-coat.

Patience is your ally at this stage. Preparation is everything so take your time.

Look forward to seeing it finished.

[Barrel Rider]

Originally Posted by fastasfox

What would you thicken the resin with?

I use cab-o-sil, a small amount of epoxy and keep adding cab-o-sil until it's a peanut butter consistency.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by FoxZulu

You've done an excellent job of cleaning up the area where the keel guard was but it is too glossy to apply flo-coat to - it needs a key, so flat it back to a nice matt finish (120 - 240 grit wet and dry). As said above, drill the screw holes out to remove any crud, countersink, and fill with a marine grade 2-part epoxy resin. Leave it to cure for 48 hrs, then sand and flat ready for flo-coat.

Patience is your ally at this stage. Preparation is everything so take your time.

Look forward to seeing it finished.

Thanks took me a solid 6hrs of graft.....I haven't sanded the rest of that area to be painted black yet I was jst showing where the balck paint should go. I figured it's far easier to do all this work before the new tubes go on....cheers.

[fastasfox]

Originally Posted by Barrel Rider

I use cab-o-sil, a small amount of epoxy and keep adding cab-o-sil until it's a peanut butter consistency.

That's the one...I watched a fella talking about it ages ago on youtube but I couldn't explain it to east coast fiberglass. Cheers