Fiberglass Repair Opinion

[Cheechako]

The hull is a bit thinner than one would think, but no way is it that unusual. Many boats are thinner than people think. My first 30 ft "full" keel cruiser sailboat was about 5/16-3/8" thick, and that boat had some blisters 3/16 deep!

1/4" of proper glass is immensely strong, try breaking a panel with a hammer some time. For that breakage I suspect some sort of drop occurred at some point.

For a 26 ft tug type the boat should perform ok and at least not be heavy.... if repaired well. Does it fit people's impressions for a tug type? Not at all ....and lesson learned.
I cant tell from the core samples that it was chopper...? It does appear to be chopped strand in the lower left picture, but we dont know if that is just the final layer they put in the hull or all layers. Maybe they like the look of chopped strand on the inside in lieu of nicely wetting out cloth to look good.?

A well done repair from the outside and any accessible areas of the inside should work. A small area not doubled on the inside may not be an issue. Depends on what's in there, I would probably gain access and do both inside and out, saws get access pretty fast! . This is not an offshore boat.

[DaveC111]

There is chopped strand on the inside of the core sample . The panel inside the cut out hole ( light shinning on it ) is very loose stand ( tank bottom panel ? ) . I have seen other Ranger Tug hull core samples and you can see the colour differences from the foam core ,

-- but my sample looks to me ( one that knows little about fiberglass ) to be all the same make up ?

I am worried if this area is repaired ( delamination also ) , that there will be other weak points in the hull . The factory still will not share any hull make up or repair info as they promised .

As far as the legal channels , my lawyer says it would be dragged out 1-2 years and a 100 K legal bill could happen ( dealing in Canada an the U.S. )

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by DaveC111

There is chopped strand on the inside of the core sample . The panel inside the cut out hole ( light shinning on it ) is very loose stand ( tank bottom panel ? ) . I have seen other Ranger Tug hull core samples and you can see the colour differences from the foam core ,

-- but my sample looks to me ( one that knows little about fiberglass ) to be all the same make up ?

I am worried if this area is repaired ( delamination also ) , that there will be other weak points in the hull . The factory still will not share any hull make up or repair info as they promised .

As far as the legal channels , my lawyer says it would be dragged out 1-2 years and a 100 K legal bill could happen ( dealing in Canada an the U.S. )

Yeah, looking at that pic with the red bottom paint, it appears to be chopped strand throughout probably. just get it repaired and sail!

[Fore and Aft]

DaveC111 there really are bigger issues in life than worrying about this. If you take your tug to a good shop they will repair it like new and you can get on with life.
As for other weak points in the hull I wouldn't stress about that. I bet there are plenty of substandard fiberglass hulls floating out there.
I was involved with a foam sandwich yacht that had been badly repaired then sailed 2000 miles (Darwin to Brisbane) to be sold to another woody duck. The bad repairs were only discovered because the new owner was getting a depth sounder installed. I was called in and with my hammer a quick percussion test found that over 50% of the hull had delaminated from the foam core. That owner paid for all the repairs himself.
Cheers

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

DaveC111 there really are bigger issues in life than worrying about this. If you take your tug to a good shop they will repair it like new and you can get on with life.
As for other weak points in the hull I wouldn't stress about that. I bet there are plenty of substandard fiberglass hulls floating out there.
I was involved with a foam sandwich yacht that had been badly repaired then sailed 2000 miles (Darwin to Brisbane) to be sold to another woody duck. The bad repairs were only discovered because the new owner was getting a depth sounder installed. I was called in and with my hammer a quick percussion test found that over 50% of the hull had delaminated from the foam core. That owner paid for all the repairs himself.
Cheers

Yeah, this is a local use boat right? The 30 footer with the blisters and the 5/16-3/8 thick hull I mentioned earlier went to Mexico down the West coast!

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

I am with PCMM on this, I clicked on this thread to see if Dave has had the boat repaired and yet here he is still complaining. This is an easy repair so I do not understand why DaveC111 is making a mountain out of a mole hill?
The original post was from October so it has been plenty of time to repair the boat and move on.
Cheers

Its not a simple repair, but a doable one. The repair is going to have to cross over the keel line which will make for some interesting glass work on the outside without making it too builky

In my opinion this repair absolutely needs to be done from both sides which means more work as you'll have to figure out how to get access to it.

[CarlF]

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

You seem to be expecting to see offshore sailboat laminate schedules in a 26ft, low hp, light-weight production powerboat designed for inshore use.

Fiberglass is wickedly strong stuff in the hands of a competent shop. And having economical access to only one side is not unusual. They should have no problem repairing it from the outside to be stronger than the rest of the hull. Which let’s agree is not very strong but has been sufficient for the company to build hundreds of boats and develop an excellent reputation.

Why spend money and time making it stronger than that?

[DaveC111]

It seems all the opinions are split down the middle . Fix from outside only , and from inside/outside . I am having a hard time getting my head around how poor this hull is . I guess I was brainwashed into thinking this expensive little boat was high end .

If we were talking about a 15 year old boat , i would feel much better about a outside fix .

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by DaveC111

It seems all the opinions are split down the middle . Fix from outside only , and from inside/outside . I am having a hard time getting my head around how poor this hull is . I guess I was brainwashed into thinking this expensive little boat was high end .

If we were talking about a 15 year old boat , i would feel much better about a outside fix .

Thickness is not a good indicator by itself on the quality of a hull. 1/4” of glass could be fine as long as it was laid up correctly. Consolidated with fin rollers or bagged, etc. 1/4” of all chopper gun would be not good.

[CarlF]

For an outside fix, this is a great place to use some G10 for internal reinforcement. The stuff is amazingly strong and easy to work with.

Cut strips of 1/4" or 3/8" thick G10 that will fit through the hole. They should extend 6" beyond the hole edges in all directions. Lightly sand and clean the inside hull surface working through the hole. Apply a good slightly thickened epoxy (I would use Gflex) on the inside hull by working through the hole and also apply to the G10 - both the part touching the inside of the hull and between the G10 pieces. By fiddling with the pieces through the hole you should be able to completely close off the hole (it helps to drive a temporary screw into the last pieces to give you something to grip as you pull it into place).

After it's cured, build up your laminate which will also be far stronger as it has a backing plate to stick to and there will be no flex at the hole edges. Use epoxy resin as the G10 is epoxy.

[DaveC111]

That sounds interesting . will look into that .