Bow fiberglass repair + bow chainplate questions

[tikiavenger]

Hello all,

First time poster and newish sailboat owner here. This past weekend, while practicing docking in 20 kt winds, I had a slight accident and damaged the bow of my 30 ft sailboat. The bow pulpit took most of the initial contact, and bent like a tin can, but I also sustained some damage to bow + bow chainplate.

Here are some pictures:






I'm trying to figure out what needs to be done to fix this damage.

1. What type of fiberglass repair is required to fix the hole in the bow?
2. How should I go about fixing the chainplate? Does it need to be completely replaced or just reset?
3. What would happen if I tried to raise a jib sail and sail with the current condition of the loosened bow chainplate?

Thanks you for your help!

[coopec43]

I don't know about other people but I can't see the X5 pictures?

[Spot]

Me neither.

[Sailmonkey]

Nope, no photos

But a stab in the dark. If the chainplate is loose, don’t raise any sail on it, you can loose the whole rig.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, tikiavenger.

[tikiavenger]

Damn, sorry folks! Still figuring out how to use this thing...

Here's a link to a dropbox folder with all the pictures: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zcd9r83k6...Q1xDei0ma?dl=0

Will try and get another host to upload them inline

[DefinitelyMe]

Well..... OK, so, I suspect that most people on here will disagree with me and say that I’m a complete idiot and irresponsible and stuff, but here goes with my observations:

1) can you get any photos of what’s going on on the back side of the stem fitting?

2) in answer to your question about whether you can still sail, my answer would be ‘probably’, assuming that the bolts on the stem are OK. I have sailed across an ocean with worse damage than that when I have had no other choice and it has been fine.

3) the bolts on the deck that have pulled out of the stainless plate or whatever: I’m pretty sure they are not load-bearing. Are they in fact bolts, or are they just lag screws?

4) the wood that those bolts go in to looks rotten. You can either replace it or perhaps dig out the rotten bits and fill it with resin, or wood filler or whatever, depending on how good a job you want to do and how much money you have. I don’t think the wood is load-bearing either.

5) for the repair, it is going to be tough to do it properly without removing the stem fitting and all that wood. You’ll need to grind back quite a bit beyond the damage itself so that the new fibreglass has something to bond to. And you’ll need to get the shape back. That means either cutting out that chunk of bow and re-making it from scratch or at least filling it with a fairing filler, shaping it, laying down glass and then filling/fairing some more. Or you could just stick some filler in there and call it a day, but it won’t be a structural fix and it will almost certainly leak.

I’m guessing you are doing fair-weather day sails at the moment? If that’s the case, then in your position I would:

Take a couple of halyards forward and slack the backstay a couple of turns.

Remove the stem fitting.

Dig out the rotten wood.

Sand the damage to the fibreglass.

Stick some filler where the wood used to be and over the damaged section of the fibreglass.

Fair the filler a bit.

Paint it with something that doesn’t look horrendous.

Bend the stem fitting back to whatever shape it should be and look at it really carefully for cracks.

Bolt it back on and re-attach everything.

Go sailing.

Fix it properly some other time, like in the off-season if you have one where you are.

But, that’s just me...........

[Sailmonkey]

Now that I’ve seen the photos, that does t look bad at all.

At the very least, pull the stem fitting and inspect it. I no cracks are found, re-mount with new bolts. Put some tape over the hole.

[jrau18]

I would suspect that all the load is through the vertical strap in the stem head, not the horizontal part on the deck. Because of that it doesnt look like something that would weaken the rig, but I'm not a professional and I'm looking at pictures, so take that advice with a double grain of salt...

Looking at the pictures from the inside, I dont see any obvious damage to the hull itself or the 4 through bolts, which is also reassuring.

One concern might be the shackle for the jib. Does that normally put a load onto those two missing screws and into the deck, and through that, to the deck-hull joint?

Also we dont have a "before" picture of the stem head to know how much it was bent. Stainless has a real potential to suffer from work hardening and become brittle, I would think carefully about how much it deformed (if any) before deciding to replace or not replace the stem head.

Obviously long term, I would look at taking off the stemhead and doing the fiberglass repair. It should be possible to so in the water if your marina allows it (since you would need to stand on the dock while doing fiberglass work, including extensive grinding). You would need to rig a temporary forestay (job halted probably) while doing the work, to keep the rig up if the wind picks up or some passing power boat creates a wake.

[tikiavenger]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

1) can you get any photos of what’s going on on the back side of the stem fitting?

Is this the stem?


I can try and snap pictures of what it looks like below.

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

3) the bolts on the deck that have pulled out of the stainless plate or whatever: I’m pretty sure they are not load-bearing. Are they in fact bolts, or are they just lag screws?

I think you're right, they look like lag screws.

BTW, thank you so much for the steps, this sounds like a reasonable plan!

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Put some tape over the hole.

LOL

Originally Posted by jrau18

One concern might be the shackle for the jib. Does that normally put a load onto those two missing screws and into the deck, and through that, to the deck-hull joint?

The more I'm analyzing the situation, the more I'm thinking that most of the load is actually on the four big bolts that are still secured through the bow. The two bent screws that secured the stem fitting to the deck look similar to the wood lag screws that I adjusted when aligning the engine.


Appreciate all the tips. I'm thinking that I'm going to remove everything, repair the wood on the deck, and try to secure the chainplate + stem fitting. I've got a quote from a local fiberglasser here in CA that says he can do a structural fix for $1300 in my slip, and it'll take two full days. I'm tempted to pull the trigger as I have 0 experience fiberglassing and don't want to screw up this structural fix + shaping.

I reached out to some boat yards and they all said I'd need to haul out of the water to fix the issue and it would be $3k+

[jrau18]

If you hire somebody to do the fiberglass repair, read up on the basics ahead of time, then watch him do the work. It will give you a better idea in the future if you want to tackle any repairs.

[tikiavenger]

Originally Posted by jrau18

If you hire somebody to do the fiberglass repair, read up on the basics ahead of time, then watch him do the work. It will give you a better idea in the future if you want to tackle any repairs.

Definitely, I'm trying to find a time where I can be there 100% of the time and absorb everything like a sponge.

[DefinitelyMe]

Now that I've seen the back side.... it looks OK. The important bolts (the ones running own the bow) look ok.

Correction: sorry, I didn't mean 'lag screws', just 'screws'. Lag screws are the ones with the hex heads I think. Anyway, you get what I mean.

Yea, it's an expensive job because of all the periphery. You might be able to significantly reduce the cost if you secure the rig, remove the stainless stem fitting and remove the wood yourself, leaving just the skilled bit - the fibreglass repair - to the professional. Definitely watch what he/she is doing, and if they are willing get them to explain why they are doing things that way too. The difference between a glass repair and a good glass repair lies in the details.

[Spot]

@tikiavenger
-Does the 1300$ include the fiberglass structure structure+repairs to the gel coat, minus the woodwork?

@CF
-Would people be using polyester, epoxy, or vinylester resin for this repair?
-What reinforcements- plain cloth, stitched bi-ax, roving, chopped strand mat?

Thanks!

[DefinitelyMe]

Originally Posted by Spot

@tikiavenger
@CF
-Would people be using polyester, epoxy, or vinylester resin for this repair?
-What reinforcements- plain cloth, stitched bi-ax, roving, chopped strand mat?

Thanks!

It’s a polyester boat, so I’d be using polyester to fix it.

I’d use biaxial and chop strand, pretty heavy. (Layer of peel-ply over the top)

Looks like the hull is painted? If so I’d then fair it with microballoons/polyester resin and paint it. No need to bother with colour-matching and fairing gel coat.

Edit: then I’d stick a big, black, rubber bumper all round the bow so I can hit stuff in future with impunity and never have to go through it all again :-)