Hi folks. New member of your forum here. It has been a pleasure lurking for a while. I have gained some great insight from your posts. My wife and I are long time beachcat sailors. We started in the early 70's sailing Solcats, Prindels and Zcats. We got away from sailing while we raised a family for a few years. Now we have jumped back in catsailing with both feet. We recently aquired a 88' Nacra 5.7 (for my wife) and a 80' Nacra 5.2 (for me). The 5.7 is a cherry. The 5.2 has a problem I need your advise on.
The bottom of the port side hull, under the front cross tube, has a huge dent in it. I have thrown some photos on a web page if you would like to see the damage. Hull Damage Photos. The deck is flat, so it's not bent. just a huge dent. Any ideas about a fix. Can a replacement be found, or just sail with it. I await your expert advise.

Best regards,
Mike

Repairable........ Always use hull cradles on Nacra trailers. Especially on the front. My boat has recieved similar damage but not quite as severe.

Is the area soft? Or is it more of an impact damage?

AJ
Nacra 6.0 Express

The damaged area is hard as a rock. No softness. Must have been a collision with a slightly submerged object. I don't know for sure. I bought it that way (price was extreemly right). I'm 100% with you on the cradles. That will be my next investment for the boat. Does it look to you like a repair most any fiberglass boat repair shop can handle?

Regards,
Mike

Yes.... That can be fixed. You will probably have to put an inspection port above the affected area to repair the damage(to beef up the inside along the crack after it is pushed back out)from the inside as well as the outside.

Not as difficult as it sounds or looks. Fairly straight forward repair.

AJ
Nacra 6.0 Express

Thats great news Mr. ME. I was expecting the worst. Thanks so much for the swift reply. I just hate riding around on a ugly boat. Off for repair quotes we go.

Best Regards,
Mike

Repair it.

I had the exact same damage on my nacra 5.2 this spring. I had a hole and a crushed area 3 feet long by 8 inches wide - so almost anything is fixable.

I got my materials from fiberglass supply inc.
6oz. boat cloth
system 3 resin + hardener
microfiber filler (for bedding)
microlite filler (for fairing)

The most usefull tools were a disk grinder with cutoff wheel (harbour freight has these) and a random orbit sander.

I did not cut any inspection ports.

1) cut out the entire damaged area

2) measure damaged area on good hull using db case and seam as reference datums

3) mark damaged area on good hull

4) mask good hull using clear polyethylene tarp

5) use good hull to mold plug from epoxy and 2 laminations of 6oz. The plug should overlap the damaged area by 3 inches in all directions.

6)drill holes along the edges of the plug so you can use string to hold it in place inside the damaged hull

7) Mix up epoxy and microfiber filler to the consistancy to peanut butter and bed the plug in place inside the damaged hull

8)Use the grinder with a abrasive disk to cut a bevel about 3 inches wide down to the plug. The bevel should be strait and smooth

9)measure and cut 2 strips of 6oz cloth to lay on the keel line. One strip should be 6 inches wide and the other should be 4 inches wide. The wider one needs to overlap the narrow one in all dimensions by 1 inch. The wide one also needs to be 2 inches smaller than the length of the hole at both ends. Laminate these strips in place and let them cure.

10) Cut 2 more laminations of 6oz cloth that go 1.5 inches and .75 inches from the edges of the bevel you cut (big piece goes on top) and laminate these in place.

11) fill and fair the area using microlite filler (West-410 I think). You have to use lots of the filler powder and spread it quickly.

12) I used an 8 foot aluminum channel as a fairing batten and a random orbit sander to do most of the fairing. Then I used a 1 foot long board. For final fairing I used sandable automotive spray primer.

13) Spray the nice smooth repair with 2 coats of rustolium paint and wet sand it with 600.

It took me about a month and a half of evenings to do the repair, but I did not work every evening or on the weekends. It cost about $350 in materials all together, but I have some left over.

The end result: it is very hard to tell which hull has been repaired. I do not leave the boat on the trailer anymore.

It is not too difficult a repair- definitely worth while.

Good luck!
Colin Pitts

Thanks Colin. What an exceptional response.
I can do this. I have done a small amount of fiberglas repair in the past but nothing on this scale. Sounds like a good job for me this fall when it cools down a little here in S.E. Texas. One question I have about the reference you made to "db case and seam". I understand the seam. What is the "db case"?

Best regards,
Mike

dagger board case...

I had a Hobie 18 that had similar damage (I also had a 5.2 that I still regret selling). I would take some cardboard paper towel tubes and coat them with several layers of glass and epoxy. Once you have the damaged area pushed back out, I would put several layers of glass on the inside of the damaged area and use the tubes, trimmed to fit the sides and bottom, to brace the area to the upper sides of the hulls. It might be a good idea to put a brace between the two tubes forming sort of a v-shaped "H".

Dagger board - DOH. I forgot the thing had them.
OK, correct me if I'm wrong. Colin is talking about cutting out the bad section. Using the good hull as a form for making a large patch. Then glassing in the newly formed patch on the cut out section. Jake, are you talking about putting in access port in the deck, in front of the center bulkhead so as to be able to push down on the compressed area from the inside of the hull? The bottom feels quite hard. Will it push down very far? How close to the original form of the hull bottom will it go?

Best regards,
Mike

hmmmm...I was assuming that since it pushed in that it would be possible to push back out. You are probably right though that it would be difficult to get it back into the proper shape. You could make that call after you put in the port though. Maybe?

Making a female mold of the starboard hull and then a cap from that sounds like the most precise, but time consuming, fix after considering that.

Hi Mike,

Yes, I meant daggerboard case. (sorry for the late reply- I was away from a PC for a couple days).

It is a good idea to cut out the entire damaged area - but dont cut though the foam core stringers. They are about 10 inches up from the centerline (that seam I mentioned). I left about 2 inches of hull skin below the stringers to bed the patch in place on the inside.

The reason it is a good idea to cut out all the damaged area is that the glass fibers will be de-bonded from the resin and can corrode. The corrosion and progressive de-bonding will continue along the individual glass fibers and the hull eventually goes soft. You can see the de-bonded area when you grind through the gel-coat. The damaged area will be a lighter color where the resin is shattered. Try to cut out this material.

It is helpful to make a cut that is roughly rectangular. It will be easier to measure and cut the patch that way. I used a fiberglass measuring tape to do all the measuring (the kind you can find at fabric stores or WalMart). It lays flat along the hull.

The patch goes on the inside of the hull. It is easiest to hold in place using strings while the epoxy cures, kind of like fixing a hole in drywall. Test fit the patch and figure out how to hold it in place before you mix the epoxy.
The other layers of glass will go on top of this patch once it cures.

It is also a good idea to sand each cured cured layer with 120 grit before putting the next one on. Epoxy can make a film (blush) when it cures and that should be removed to get a good bond.

A couple other things- Wear gloves, a mask and goggles. If you get fiberglass dust on exposed skin use a shop vac to get it off before using anything else. Note: fiberglas supply inc's motto is "itching for fun" - that just kills me.

It will be a great fall project. Have fun with it.
(I will be out of country starting wednesday - back on 15th)

talk to you later
-colin

I did a repair very similar to this on a 5.2 of '76 vintage.
First, I placed an inspection port on top side - note - cut the hole for the port, but do not put port in place till after all the bottom side work - you'll have a bigger hole to work in, and you won't gum up the new port.
I cut out the damaged area & feathered the edges.
I made an outside mold - low tech - waxpaper & tape. Then made one thin glass/resin layer on inside of hull, working through the porthole.
Then took off "mold", and finished up the outside with another layer or 2 of glass/resin, and painted. It was very strong, and no more weight than original. Fiberglass work is very easy, if you use good materials, and aren't obsessed with weight or beauty.

Hull cradles - are very nice, but in my opinion, are not required to be as curved. I just use a 24" piece of 2x6 under each hull at each roller. The length of the board is aligned with hull, I have small cross-pieces on the bottom of the 2x6 to keep it from jumping off the roller. This wood keeps the weight of the boat distributed on a larger area of the hull ( 18-24 sq inches?) than just the intersection of the roller and hull (1 sq inch?).

You folks are sure giving me alot to think about. That's a good thing. Thanks for all the info. I'll post some photos of the adventure when I get started this fall.

Regards,
Mike