Do It Yourself – Repair a Fiberglass Hull on a Boat

To repair a fiberglass hull on boats may appear to be an easy job because it fundamentallyincludes patching any weakened areas usinggelcoat. However, the preparation that needs to be carried out is the most crucialstep in the process and will have the greatest impact on the soundness of the work you will accomplish. For this reason you will have to be meticulous when fixing the hull on your boat. Basically the process requires a bit of sanding, application of polyester resin, waxing and buffing to restore the initial gloss. It is critical that you do not merely fill any cracks with additional material as this will be liable to break off. This is because gelcoat is very brittle on its own and will crack soon after being affixed to the area.

How To Repair A Fiberglass Hull On Boats

Required Materials

Polyester Resin

Pigments of various colours

Hardener

Tape

Rubing Compound

Required Tools

Sand Paper

Gloves

Rotary Tool

Screw Driver

Popsicle Stick/Plastic Scraper

Instructions

To begin you will have to make your surface rough to add your filler composed of gelcoat, pigment and a hardener. To accomplish this you will have to utilize your sandpaper, rotary tool and screw driver. Essentially you will be enabling the gelcoat to have a stronger grip on the flawed area. Omiting this step as mentioned previously will cause the gelcoat to crack after it has been laid. Ultimately you will want to take your sandpaper and create a rougher texture to your area. After you have done this you can use your screw driver or rotary tool to dig a valley in your work area, henceproducing a satisfactory number of rugged edges. Once the valley has been created you can then smooth out the close by areas and use some of tape to distinguish the area that will be patched. To make certain you don’t ruin the areas that are unspoilt closest to the work area, use additional tape to protect those areas.

It is now time to prepare your filling. The hardest part of this process will be to get your gelcoat to look like the same colour foundon the hull as it is now. The best advice will be to mix your colour before you actually mix your polyester resin and hardener to form your gelcoat. If you combine all of the aforementioned materials together all at once you will have only 20 minutes to get the colour right by trial and error. Therefore for this section of the process mix only the pigments and polyester resin together and test on a small section of material that is similar to hull and wait for it to dry a bit. It is likely that the colour will look a bit different when the colour is dried. This portion of the process will need a bit of skill and some patience will be necessitated.

When you have got the colour to match the hull you may then put in your hardener. However, before adding the hardener pay close attention to the guidelines and ensure that you add the right amount to avoid a poor mixture that will produce a change in the colour you’ve mixed and an inadequate finish. You should not combine the hardener to the entire amount that you have mixed but instead to small amounts as you proceed. This will ensure you will not have to remix the colour which as you should already know necessitates a considerable amount of time. It will also ensure that the sections being patched will be the same colour.

To fill the area apply the mixture with a popsicle stick or any other kind of flat applicator. Try to do this as smoothly as you can. It doesn’t need to be extremely smooth because it will be leveled with sandpaper. When you have completed filling the area it should be a bit more raised than your encompassing area, this allowance should remain untouched to enable better sanding of the area. You may need to apply a couple more layers while sanding in between to get it to be slightly elevated. Let this dry for 24 hours.

After it has dried you can then sand down the area and remove the masking tape from the undamaged areas to get the area as close to this as possible. You may then put on another thin layer orf resin and let dry overnight.

You may then buff your area with the rubbing compound until it appears just as good as the undamaged areas.

You may add a bit once you are finished to give extra protection against UV rays.

Tips

You may want to put on your gloves to prevent the gelcoat from touching your hand.

Try to work cautiously so that you do not end up damaging any areas that are still in good condition.