Best way to go about fixing my plethora of gouges/scrapes

[albergsailor]

So do I sand the fiberglass down flat and totally remat these sections? what kind of sander to keep the surface flat? almost seems a peeler would help me more! and for the sections that arent that bad what kind of filler would u use? Im not the biggest fan of the west system fillers not to say they dont work. I mean theres certainly more than 1 way to do this but i want the best way since if you cant tell in the pics these gouges are actually pretty deep and no filler will bring the strength to the bad spots. Under the tape is actually holes, and i know its really bad to have this bare fiberglass in the sun im taking care of it asap. Thanks everyone many brains are better than 1!

[model 10]

Looks like the damage is only in the mat and not the ply. Seems like filler with strand in it would be enough of a pain. Using a DA and a long board or block should be enough sanding equipment.
What happened?

[rw58ph]

So how big are the holes? Best is to sand 3 to 6” around the hole at an angle/taper so multi epoxy soaked cloth can be laid over the hole. If the gouges in the area are deep might what to sand/taper the whole area and lay multi layers of soaked epoxy cloth to build back up. Since the hole is above the water line and if the hole is not that big you might be able to get away with a plug, but again the holes and plug should be sanded/taper to a V so the epoxy has an reasonable area to stick to.

For the rough taper/sanding I would use a grinder, 40/60 grit, and then an orbiter sander, 60 to 80 grit, you can buy both at hardware stores. The orbital sand is what I use for most of the time, and a palm sand for the corners and tight areas.

I been using the West System for 15+ years, and usually added #4 filer too added strength to the epoxy. Is the hull gel cot or paint?

[Stumpkiller]

Ooooo. Somebody lay up aside a rock jetty? Ouch.

Although I have never tried an area that large you might want to check out Marine Tex.

Marine Tex, epoxy resin, adhesives, silicone grease, engine treatment, cleaner, repair, bond, fill, seal, fiberglass, aluminum, plastics, Starboard, wood

[psneeld]

if less than 1/4 inch deep....just sand surrounding areas free of paint/gel...clean out the scratches, fill area with a vinylester filler from say 3M company, sand with a long batten to shape, then spray/roll&tip a new gel surface. Sand, buff and polish.

[albergsailor]

thanks everyone. So it sounds like for the deep scratches to bevel them out larger and lay in some mat. There are just sooo many scratches and like i said they are really pretty deep, now that i think about it im thinkin of just sanding down the entire area of the deep scratches flat then re-matting. The thing about doing that is that im not sure how im going to get an even surface for glassing?? a peeler seems the only way. BUt i did have another idea which was to FILL/sand smooth to get my evenness back, then glass over the filler/protuding glass.. sound crazy or not? Oh and hurrican sandy in cleveland is what happened,no it didnt sink

[Quintessa]

I would follow the epoxy west system with filler to bring in extra strength. Good stuff

[psneeld]

Originally Posted by albergsailor

thanks everyone. So it sounds like for the deep scratches to bevel them out larger and lay in some mat. There are just sooo many scratches and like i said they are really pretty deep, now that i think about it im thinkin of just sanding down the entire area of the deep scratches flat then re-matting. The thing about doing that is that im not sure how im going to get an even surface for glassing?? a peeler seems the only way. BUt i did have another idea which was to FILL/sand smooth to get my evenness back, then glass over the filler/protuding glass.. sound crazy or not? Oh and hurrican sandy in cleveland is what happened,no it didnt sink

Don't overthink it. There is usually gel coat then a layer of mat just under. If the scratches are only that or a little deeper...then filler is all you need (epoxy is OK but not required if using a good vinylester filler)...you just need the filler to build up to where the gel was...then gel is used very thick to build back even/flush with the rest of the gel...so even what most people consider deep scratches are 2 layers, filler and gel and can be built up easily 3/8 of an inch or even a bit more.

[albergsailor]

Well iv been workin on the boat now for 2 days and just about got all the sanding done. But i did notice some white spots of delamination that are very very evident in the picture. it doesnt seem right to cut out those spots and create a huge hole when i can just glass over it front and back right? the pic with the holes in it and the other pic seems to me to be almost all ready for glass although i did wonder about those scrapes i sanded the ridges off them enough so that the new fiberglass should fill them. it didnt make sense to me to sand off the whole layer to get rid of them.