Thanks for the quick replies guys. The bottom is worn down to the fiberglass. I don't know that I need to be doing any shaping, rather taking care of the holes and reinforcing the bottom at the same time. The place I sail the most has some nasty gritty sand at water level. There is one area that looks troubling. It looks like at some point the was quite a hole in the bottom, about the middle of the hull where the point starts flattening out. It looks like someone tried filling it, with what I don't know. It appears to have worked, but I'll feel more comfortable with some fiberglass over that.
I will be using West Systems, and will be doing this in my garage. The temp has been fluctuation through the 50's and 60's here lately.
The advice I've been given so far was given by a guy who used to do these types of repairs for a living in Hawaii. He is a Hobie guy, "warned" me against getting a Nacra because it wasn't as solid, and so he thought it might take 3 layers. He said to sand about 2 inches around the holes, down to glass with a vibe sander. Then use 3 layers, getting progressively wider. Said to use the West Systems stuff, and said to use peel ply on the top layer to save some sanding at the end. This was via PM at a different, general topic forum, without getting eyes on.
So one long strip it is. Do you use any particular type of throw away brushes? It's been so long... Do you impregnate the glass on both sides or can you lay it down and then put enough on that it soaks through?
How much time do you think the normal hardener would get me at the temperature stated above?
*I guess I've never seen what the shape should actually be on the 5.0 to tell if it needs reshaping or not. Any ideas?
Thanks again for the quick replies
Pepin is right, you probably don't need three layers. Two should be fine with the outermost sacrificing a little thickness for the finish sanding.
After repairing any imperfections, I would roughen up the hull with sandpaper where the new glass will go. Put masking tape 4 to 6 inches away from the edges of your final repair (use the painting stuff that has the folded plastic on it protects the whole hull easily). I would then brush on a thin but fully covered layer of epoxy on the hull as wide as the repair will be. Now lay the first layer of glass on the wet epoxy. then squeegie in enough epoxy to thuroughly wet that glass fully. I would use a comb roller (also available at
www.uscomposites.com) to roll over the glass and work out any air bubbles. Now put the second strip of glass ontop of the other dry. I would now put in some more epoxy focusing on the outer edges of the top glass strip on the hull (leaving the center to soak up excess epoxy from the bottom layer) and roll again with the comb roller. wipe up any drips at this point and let it cure.
Once cured, I would scrub it down with a stiff bristle plastic brush and water to remove the amine blush. Then mix up a thick (almost peanut butter consistency) mixture of epoxy and microballons (phenolic or glass balloons - DO NOT USE colloidal silica as it will not sand) and I would squeegie this over the cured glass as a fairing compound. Use an old credit card, a plastic hotel room key (I collect these for composite work), or a store-bought squeegie for spreading out the filler. Let the filler cure and then sand to shape.
