how do i repair this!

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dubaisailer186065

Member
Hey guys,

Soooo this is what has happened to my brothers laser. Would like to get a pro to fix it but any ideas on how we could do it ourselves?

First picture is of the gunnel and the second is the bow which has been repaired 2 times and has cracked again.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
 

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for the one on the bow, it looks like the fiberglass isn't damaged. you should be able to repair it by putting on some gelcoat and sanding it down until smooth.
 
For the bow repair you need to get the affected area as dry as possible and take the gelcoat off round the current damage (using a dremel or similar tool is ideal). Then rough the entire area up slightly and clean is throughly with acetone of something similar and apply the gel or gel filler. I have this problem on a boat once, not as severa as yours but that did the trick.

For the gunwhale repair you need to clean out all the old glue. You coulc use a dremel if you have a small enough attachment but most people use a hacksaw blade as this just the ideal width to clean it out. Make sure you go a little way in to the 'good' bonding at each end to be sure you have got all the damaged material out.

Then, as with the bow repair, you need to dry it out throughly before using some suitable resin to stick it back together. You may also wish to clamp is as it looks like the moulding have seperated. You may want to use some micro balloons or micro fibres to get the resin to a thin paste but not so thin that it does not flow slightly when you apply it (to allow it to get the the bottom of the crack). Then once it is dry apply a little more to fill any remaining space up. Take your time too, better to have a few weeks off the water doing it properly than keep hang to repair the boat.

I would guess there is a lot of water in the hull you you may want to put a deck hatch in and let that dry too.
 
Remove all the damaged materials and replace them with new materials as close to identical to the original as possible.

if the "how to" diretions that answer is insufficient, you might consider either hiring someone to accomplish the task for you or taking on the task as a learning experience..

The person you hire may or may not do the job correctly and may or may not offer a warranty...and actually be there willingly providing warranty coverage.

if you do it yourself, you may fix it perfectly or perform such an incompetent repair your boat not only loses resale value but rails to perform properly.

In my shop, the repair might cost as much as $2500..but the boat would be returned in a condition where it sailed as it did before the collision....or I would tell you I simply cannot make that promise and maybe charge as little as $1500 just to make it pretty and almost as good as it was. ...

I could make it float again in an hour or two using less than $100 of materials and the boat would be stronger than before the wreck...But it sure wouldn't look pretty or float level.

If this is a photo of your $7000 nearly new racing toy, I suggest you ask your insurance company for a replacement hull.
 
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