WHAT I USED

Random strand 1.5oz. mat, WEST System 105/205 epoxy, 406 colloidal thickener, and pigment were the repair materials used. WEST System epoxy chemistry joins effectively with a properly prepared polyester hull. Non-thickened, it can be coaxed into minute crevices in the roughened laminate. With only a slight amount of filler and pigment mixed in the resin, I called it a barrier coat.

Adding a little more, I could stick fiberglass on vertical sections of the keel, while an even heavier mix enabled me to stick glass overhead on the hull and keep the runoff under some control. Going all the way, a peanut-butter-thick mix will give you a good body patch. The more silica in the mix, the slower the wet-out, and when it’s very thick, the specific choice of WEST System filler then becomes more of a consideration. Pigment lends a thickening quality as well. Some people prefer cloth instead of, or in combination with mat for hull repair, others prefer to pre-wet the fiberglass.

I chose mat for this job. It’s cheap and the light weight grades wet-out fast. Cut into squares it builds up individual excavations. Cloth, especially the heavier grades tend to copy highs and lows in the elevations, show a weave pattern, and make a repair easy to spot. With its straight, closely spaced continuous strands cloth no doubt provides tremendous strength, but adding still more mat is also strong. Pre-wetting the fiberglass is an option, especially with heavy grades of glass which don’t wet-out well on vertical and overhead surfaces.

Those who like that method wet the hull well with resin. Take a window glass or old mirror etc., wet it well with resin. Lay a piece of fiberglass on the glass. Wet the fiberglass well and then with a spatula transfer the wet fiberglass from the pane to the hull. This approach is often seen in boat shops.