Fiberhlass repair opinions

[Jiggumup]

Thoughts on these repairs. Can this be something one does on their own or would it be best to leave it up to the professionals? Thanks!


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[ride.race.live]

depends if its structural damage or not.

If its ALL structural damage.... I would just recommend getting a pro do it.

if its just a scrape.. then its as simple as some proper below water line filler (for the below water line damage) and matching gel coat and away you go... same goes for the damage above the bumper ( you will need to remove bumper for sure)

If you do, do it yourself with little to no experience... it may not look "flawless" so if your really picky i'd send it in. if your open to notice a few flaws (depending on how well you do it) ... then i'd say give it a whirl.

[TrackerPro16]

While I am not sure what ‘fiberhlass’ is, , unless you want to buy materials, read up on it, and probably not have a repair you like, best take it to someone that does it for their living. That metalflake will be hard to match.

[STRETCH1]

For the smaller scratches it is easy to fix yourself. Get some gelcoat that matches your color from the boat manufacturer. Mix it up and dab in the holes, use a piece of scothtape or packaging tape and smooth out your repair. Wont look flawless but it will be pretty close. If you need to then just lightly sand the gel coat and repolish. Repairs like that can get real expensive, real quick but it is easy to do a fairly decent job.

Now for the long scratch on the side, if you wet it does the scratch go away? If yes then simply get some clear gel coat and put it in the scratch and use the tape trick above to smooth it with your boat. Sand and buff and you wont even know it is there.

Have a pro doing it will cost you about $3- 4k.

[TrackerPro16]

Not sure the guy above looked close at the broken parts. Here is a rundown from a guy that used to make his living doing those kind of repairs. Me.
Any composite is basically a medium (fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar) that gets soaked up with resin (plastic that gets hard through chemical reaction or heat) to a certain percentage to have its best strength and flexibility. When it is hard and gets damaged (like your first picture) it either flexes enough to shed the resin or tears the composite material. Any exposed portion from the tear will be subject to the elements and break down quickly as most do not do well in direct UV or 'exposed to the elements' conditions.
The 'proper' fix, and it should be done fairly soon after the damage, is to grind out the damage, feather back AT LEAST a few inches OR MORE, then build up composite layers to the surface level, grind and sand down even with the rest, prime, paint and polish. Pinholes or drill holes can be filled with ground composite but cracks need to be ground out to the end of any observed damage or stop drilled then repaired or they will most likely crack later. It is time consuming and the materials CAN be hard to work with, depending.
Just like anything else, you can 'maybe' get by on the cheap, do it yourself, whatever. You might even get by with it for as long as you have it. Or not. Best of luck either way!

[Jiggumup]

Not sure the guy above looked close at the broken parts. Here is a rundown from a guy that used to make his living doing those kind of repairs. Me.
Any composite is basically a medium (fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar) that gets soaked up with resin (plastic that gets hard through chemical reaction or heat) to a certain percentage to have its best strength and flexibility. When it is hard and gets damaged (like your first picture) it either flexes enough to shed the resin or tears the composite material. Any exposed portion from the tear will be subject to the elements and break down quickly as most do not do well in direct UV or 'exposed to the elements' conditions.
The 'proper' fix, and it should be done fairly soon after the damage, is to grind out the damage, feather back AT LEAST a few inches OR MORE, then build up composite layers to the surface level, grind and sand down even with the rest, prime, paint and polish. Pinholes or drill holes can be filled with ground composite but cracks need to be ground out to the end of any observed damage or stop drilled then repaired or they will most likely crack later. It is time consuming and the materials CAN be hard to work with, depending.
Just like anything else, you can 'maybe' get by on the cheap, do it yourself, whatever. You might even get by with it for as long as you have it. Or not. Best of luck either way!

Well that takes care of my potential involvement with this.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts/advice. Isn’t my boat but one I’m considering buying. Sounds like $$$$ to get it fixed so I’m probably going to pass.

[crank68]

Not sure the guy above looked close at the broken parts. Here is a rundown from a guy that used to make his living doing those kind of repairs. Me.
Any composite is basically a medium (fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar) that gets soaked up with resin (plastic that gets hard through chemical reaction or heat) to a certain percentage to have its best strength and flexibility. When it is hard and gets damaged (like your first picture) it either flexes enough to shed the resin or tears the composite material. Any exposed portion from the tear will be subject to the elements and break down quickly as most do not do well in direct UV or 'exposed to the elements' conditions.
The 'proper' fix, and it should be done fairly soon after the damage, is to grind out the damage, feather back AT LEAST a few inches OR MORE, then build up composite layers to the surface level, grind and sand down even with the rest, prime, paint and polish. Pinholes or drill holes can be filled with ground composite but cracks need to be ground out to the end of any observed damage or stop drilled then repaired or they will most likely crack later. It is time consuming and the materials CAN be hard to work with, depending.
Just like anything else, you can 'maybe' get by on the cheap, do it yourself, whatever. You might even get by with it for as long as you have it. Or not. Best of luck either way!

This is very very good advice....