How would you fix this small "dent" in the hull?

[Andrew]

don't bother payin someone else to do it. david will clearly explain the process. its very easy and definetly not worth the couple hundred that someone else will charge

[Andrew]

don't bother payin someone else to do it. david will clearly explain the process. its very easy and definetly not worth the couple hundred that someone else will charge

[OldFart]

definately warranty

[DanielC]

First of all, three sources of supplies.
tapplastics.com
spectrumcolor.com
minicraft.com
Tap plastics has raw fiberglass, and resins, polyester and epoxy. Thery are also a good source of do it yourself information. Spectrum color, and Minicraft have gelcoat in matching colors for your boat.
The basic process is to grind out all the damaged glass, fill the hole almost to the level of the orginal gelcoat with a mixture of new fiberglass and epoxy, and then apply gelcoat over the patched area. After the gelcoat cures, sand the gelcoat with finer and finer grits of sandpaper, to the level of the orginal gelcoat, and then polish and buff the repaired area.

[ag4ever]

The reason you want to use glass as well as resin is that the resin is very brittle by itself. The glass in the composite adds considerable strength, and the composite is not very strong and very heavy without it's use. The other thing to keep in mind is that resin shrinks while it cures, the glass will help to stabilize it some, but some shrinkage will occur.

BTW, epoxy, polyester, SME5000, etc.. are all types of resin. Some are compatable, some are not. From what I remember, you can put epoxy on polyester, but you can not put polyester on epoxy. Polyester is a little more flexable, but epoxy is stronger.

[surroundsound64]

definately warranty

Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

[DanielC]

Like Ag4ever said, you should not fill the hole with only resins. It is brittle, and depends on the fiberglass for strength. In my experiance, you can put any type of resin on top of another, as long as the resin on the bottom is fully cured, and the surface is prepped correctly. If the resin has a solvent in it, all the solvent must evaporate before you put a sealing type of resin on it. Most polyesters, and some epoxys have solvent in them. Gelcoat has a solvent in it, also. You can put the same type of resin on top of itself, if the lower layer of resin is not fully cured, but there are time limits, and the directions on each product must be followed exactly.
The type of resin I have had very good results with is an epoxy resin from Tap plastics, type 314 resin, with type 102 hardener. It is a "sealing" type resin and should not go over fresh polyester. It also has no solvents in it. It does not shrink on cure. It will cure at 40 degrees, F. but it takes about a day, to set, and about a week to fully cure, at that temp. At 80 degrees it will set in about 15 minutes.

[DanielC]

Surface prep

OK, I found this dent in my boat. Here is what I would do to fix it. First, Clean the area with water, and a mild soap. (diluted dawn in water) Then clean the area again with acetone to remove all the wax. Wax prevents adhesion of repair materials, and can get transfered into the repair area by sanding and grinding.
Second, carefully pick, or remove any loose pieces of gelcoat, and sand or grind down to good fiberglass. If you get deeper than about 1/4 inch, or larger than 3 or 4 inches across, you might need to have it done by someone with more experiance.
After you have ground down to good fiberglass, wipe the area with acetone again to remove contaminates.

[TRBenj]

RE: Surface prep

A great source for all fiberglass materials is US Composites. You will definitely want to use Epoxy resin.