bommer

Hi, I'm new here so first off, hello to the other members. So I own a boat on the Australian Coast with my friend Dean. We've noticed some small damage to the fibre glass at the side of our boat and are now looking for a suitable fibre glass repair kit and some instructions on how to repair the damage, which I presume would be provided along with the kit. The boat we own is a Nor-tech. Just so you know a little bit about it, its an '09 24' custom built vacuum bagged fiberglass reinforced with Kevlar. There's a vinylester resin and a hi-gloss gel coat to boot. I was hoping that someone on the forum could suggest the best kit manufacturer/product for this particular style of finish. Or, maybe you would recommend that we just take it to a professional shop? Any ideas greatly appreciated.

rak rua

G'day knackers, how ya goin?

I had a very small chip (the size of a 5 cent piece) on the bottom of my boat, right on the Vee. The local pin-heads at the marina did the damage when loading her on the trailer.

I used wet 'n' dry folded to create an edge and grooved out the chip slightly so I could get some filler in. I bought a simple 2 part epoxy putty from a local supplier (10 bucks) mixed it 50:50 and filled the chip using an applicator. Rubbed it back with 1500 grit then 2000 grit. Finished of with a hand polish and it looks brand spanking.

Pretty easy on white gel but if your damage is on a colored section you need tinter to match the colour. That's about as far as I would care to go using an easy fix. Don't know how big your damage is, might need an expert opinion, maybe a professional repair too being Kevlar. Simple fixes like mine can be searched on YouTube and very easy to do.


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Cheers buddy.

RR

EDIT. Bloody iPad inverted the photo automatically for guys like us from down under........

bommer

OK, thanks bud, appreciate the response. I have a friend of a friend who is going to come down and have a look, just to let us know whether or not we need to get a professional in. Its not a bid hole to repair so I'd like to have a go myself but we'll see what he says. Thanks again for the tips, i'll mention your fix and see what he suggests.

rak rua

I'm more of an enjoy boating guy than a fibreglass fixit guy, surprised you haven't seen a few more detailed and knowledgable responses.

Maybe this 'thread bump' will get some attention, there's some pretty cluey guys here on OSO.

Cheers,
Jon.