Soft Fiberglass

[scottief]

Hi, Im new to sailing. I bought a small Zuma sailboat this summer. Its like a laser. There are a few cracks on the hull on both sides of it and they are pretty soft. The cracks are right where it sits on the dolly. Im trying to figure out how to fix this. Can I just fibergalss it or would Epoxy be better? I'll see if I can take some photos to post. Thanks for any help.

[osprey877]

If the cracks are just cosmetic, open them up with a V shaped scraper and then fill them with gel-coat. If structural, you will need to reinforce with new cloth and mat. Apply to the inside of the hull. Cut a hole in the deck above the repair area for a new inspection hatch if you don't otherwise have access. Grind out the bad glass from the outside, fill with mat and fair with autobody filler. Finish with a one part polyurethane primer and paint to seal the filler. You can use epoxy on the inside patch, but I wouldn't bother. Don't use it to fill cracks or fair the hull as it is harder than the surrounding fibregass and you will never be able to sand it flush. As long as you are dry sailing the boat and finish the repair with a polyurethane paint you shouldn't have a problem with water absorption. I haven't looked, but I'm sure there are multiple Utube videos on how to repair dings in fibreglass hulls. Hope this helps.

[scottief]

Here are pics of the cracks. They are really soft and I'm thinking I need to fiberglass it

[delmarrey]

Not sure the size or weight of your boat but obviously it's too heavy for the amount of surface area of the dolly.

As for repair, it would be best to lay in a couple layers of heavy FG on the inside of the hull with epoxy, well overlapping the length and breadth of the damaged areas, especially the corner. After that the outside could be repaired to prevent water absorption.

[Sailmonkey]

That looks like the boat had a cockpit full of water while on the dolly


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[scottief]

It did have a lot of water in it. I drained it twice. Im slowing learning what I need to do for sailing. Guess I should have emptied it more often. I'll be fixing it in the spring so I can get back on the water.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by scottief

It did have a lot of water in it. I drained it twice. Im slowing learning what I need to do for sailing. Guess I should have emptied it more often. I'll be fixing it in the spring so I can get back on the water.

The hull on that thing isn't made to support any weight while out of the water....i.e. Water in the hull or cockpit or kids on the boat on the dolly will do this.


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[scottief]

I bought it used, so not sure what kind of use it got before me. Guess I'm going to learn a lot about sailboats now.