Temporary Fiberglass Repair Suggestions

[Happy Place]

Well, the wind and current fooled me and pushed me into the dock at sufficient speed to damage the hull.

The result is a 1" long crack above the waterline which will need repair but all local shops are booked well into the summer.

Can anyone recommend an appropriate temporary fix?

The marina says just put a piece of tape on it....as it will need to be ground during repair, I thought of a dab of gelcoat/ epoxy/MarineTex.

Any recommendations? The crack is on the port side in line with the master head (2014 R31 CB)

 

[GaylesFaerie]

Not seeing the crack and how bad or not it is makes a recommendation difficult but, tape works. Putting a lot of other hard materials in it will only require more grinding out and potentially enlarging the area of recovery. That said if it is indeed a deep crack into the fiber glass then a dab of marine tex should work too. Tape around and close to the crack before applying. HTH, Gary

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Happy Place,

As Gary mentioned, it's pretty hard to make a recommendation not knowing the extent of the crack. But he is also right in going to the worst case by mentioning that sealing the crack with Marinetex or similar will keep water out until you can get it repaired in a few months. Only issue would be if there is worse damage that has compromised the hull, which I seriously doubt, but that would require investigation on a whole other level . Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ralf

 

[The lyons den]

Gorilla waterproof patch and seal.
I keep a roll of it in my tool bag.
While on a fly-in fishing trip, we found a three inch crack in one of the aluminum boats. A patch on the inside and outside of crack held for seven days. It was under water the entire time. From a safety standpoint, I would never recommend a tape repair but must admit that I was amazed how well it worked.

 

[BB marine]

The repair could be as simple as putting some shrink wrap tape over the crack and coloring the tape to match the hull. Making a temporary fiberglass patch over the crack and spray painting it. It is hard to say what the best fix would be without seeing the crack. If it were my boat I would find a way to get access to the crack from the inside of the hull. This would determine how I would temporarily repair it and my temporary repair would be from the inside first then the outside. The repair when done professionally should be done from the inside first and the the cosmetic repair done on the outside. This insures a strong repair.