what to use to repair bottom of boat?(crack on side of pad)

[camaro7081]

marine tex last one run only. there is a 2 foot hairline crack on the side of the pad, what to use to seal it up ???????????

[Hottrucks]

your not going to like the correct answers....

Cut it out check for water and glass it from the inside and out...thats the short version

[flabum1017]

Marine-tex is for sloppy repairs to sloppy fishing boats.

First, you need to know why it cracked, then you need to know how deep the crack is. Just fixing the gel-coat may be all is needed, but if there is a problem deeper, the crack will reappear. If the crack is deep, then alot of grinding, drying and glassing is required.

[hosejockey4506]

what kind of boat i would be willing to bet your core is all wet

[Techno]

Vee the crack out and fix it with gelcoat.
BUT like the others said this is a rattlesnake in the weeds. Ignoring this crack can cause it to bite you. If something caused it to crack, like the glass is failing then it could take the section of pad off with it or simply leak so much the boat sinks.

[hsbob]

is it a crack or the corner of the gel coat on the pad flaking off. if its a real crack the above suggestion are good. but for corner flakes marine tex should work well. if its wet or dirty nothing going to last past the first trip. real cracks need to be fix correctly. there's something structually wrong which can lead to total failure.

[Alan Power]

Need more info to help you correctly! Where is the crack exactly? What type of boat? How wide is the crack? A pic or two would help a lot if you can, then we can guide you through the correct fix.

Alan:)

[camaro7081]

16 foot checkmate sportfire 1986 is the boat, the cause i would say was overpowering i put a 260 on boat and hit 90 on a 93 degree day full load of fuel , just to much power for boat . i put back the 2.4 just to cruise untill i find a tunnel boat. the boat has a balsa core , and i would bet it is wet , to get to the core i would have to remove the carpet and wood floor, then cut threw the layer on top of the balsa core , and then remove the balsa to get to the top of the crack............................................ i think i will just coat the crack to try to keep water out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and i cant try to hit a 100 mph any more with this boat , the boat has seen its limits , has anyone else ever hit 90 on a checkmate???????

[Alan Power]

Ok, so you know the right way to do and have decided it's more effort than the boat is worth, cool! But you can still do a decent repair on the crack, poissibly even a bit of core patching if it's needed without ripping up all the floor etc.

Get the boat off the trailer if you can it will make life easier and will quite probably be necisary to get access to the pad.

Grind out the area along the crack and look to see how deep the crack has gone or how bad the hull has delaiminated in that area. If the crack runs deep or there is delamination keep going untill you either hit core or no more delam, you dont need to be too neat with the grinder here just dont go wild, you can clean up the edges when you prep for glass.

If the core is wet open up the area until you hit dry core, (you may want to asses things again if you start to open up a very large area from the outside as there can be a lot of finnishing work/ sanding & fairing) cut out the wet core section and bed in some new core on some resin and silica mix, hold it in place with some timber or some other way to hold it firmly and evenly in place.

Now you are ready to prep up the hull for the new glass, take a sanding disc in a right angle grinder using it flat and taper back the edges to lay in fresh glass, the distance of taper will depend on hull thickness but rule of thum is minimum 1:12 (so if the hull is 1/4" thick thats a minimum of 3" taper, I would go more on the pad of a hi-po boat.

Try and replicate the laminate thats in the boat, using the same cloth styles and weights. Then mix up some gel putty or epoxy filler and fill over the area.

When it's dry sand it to the shape of the original hull section.

You can finnish with either a gelcoat finnish or paint depending on which way you go with filler or what you want.

Just thought I'd give you a half decent option, I wouldn't bother just plugging the crack, you may as well not bother, I don't think you will stop the filler coming out or water getting in. If it's a crack it needs glass!

Good time to plan your winter project;)

Alan

[camaro7081]

thanks for input