Hull to deck joint repair

[SamirKrey]

Hi, new to the site and looking for some advice on a hull to deck joint repair i have to undertake. Bought the boat recentely and was getting a few mild leaks on the starboard side, mostly from from stanchion bases but a few coming from the hull to deck joint. Since the leaks were not too severe i was hoping i would only have to reaseal the toerail, which is thrubolted, with some sika 291 and maybe fill in a small gap or two in the joint. Upon inspection however the joint looks to be in very bad shape and im now unsure of how to go forward with the repair work.

The main issue is the apparant misallignment between the edge of the deck and the hull, leading the bolt holes to be on the very edge of the deck piece in some areas. Im not sure this is an issue anyone else has encountered, ive been unable to find a similur case anywheres else, or repair technique to emulate. Others issues include joint seperation in some areas as well as damaged and cracked fiberglass.

I have no fiberglass or epoxy experience and was hoping this job could be done with sealent with the boat of the water in a few days. Im now thinking this will take quite a bit more work than originaly envisioned, am i right to think this is still something thats fixable by an amateur?

Any advice and help appreciated, thank you

[Tia Bu]

That looks pretty easy to repair to me. The key is how much the toe rail will cover up whatever epoxy work you do. Working with epoxy and fiberglass is easy. There are lots of videos online to show you how. The hard part is to make it all look good again. Fairing, gel coating, and painting take some finesse. But in this case, if you can hide it under the toe rail, that makes the job easier.

Also, check under the headliner inside to see how the joint was glassed over in there. That may give you more insight into how to fix this and more opportunity the cover up the repair when you're finished

I've had to repair major hurricane damage to the toe rail and hull deck joint twice in recent years. It looked intimidating but turned out to be very doable.

[SamirKrey]

Thanks for the reply, would you remove the old sealent or simply apply fiberglass over the existing joint. I was also thinking that the deck edge would have to be built out to be flush with the hull. Im not sure how i would acomplish that exactly.

The inside of the joint isnt glassed over, just some exposed sealent coming out of the seam. Did you have a resource that you would recomend to watch or read to prepare for this type of work?

[Tia Bu]

I can't really tell without looking at it in person. Google "repairing hull/deck joint" and keep digging. You'll learn a lot fast.

And don't be too afraid. You probably won't make it any worse. You'll probably make it a lot better by the time you're finished.

[Salishbear]

Good advice. I'll put in a plug for Don Casey's line of books. Excellent pictures and descriptions of all you need to know about fiberglass and epoxy work, layup techniques and such. You can go from zero to 60 pretty fast with his books. I learn best by reading so prefer his books to videos, which invariably involve a lot of time weeding through stuff you don't care about. Good luck and I agree you are unlikely to make it worse if you follow good recommendations from folks like Casey.