Help for a Non-Mental Giant.

[dickenscpa]

I did a search and upped the age of the thread from 14 days to All and went thru all the pages trying to scan for what applies to my situation. I found a wealth of info and this is a GREAT site BTW.

I bought a 1973 14' Ensign bass boat. It's the old obligatory green with black speckles like back in the day. I didn't buy a cover since it will be garage kept. However, I left it outside one night and it came a downpour. I do have a crack in the floor and I accidentally left the boat plug in. I thought I drained it all out but apparently I didn't have the front jacked up enough 'cause when I pulled it in the garage there was a wet spot on the floor. I jacked it up and drained about 7 gal out before I was thru.

It's a tri-hull fiberglass boat. Just above the center line in the hull is what I would have assumed was a hairline crack that was cosmetic. The previous owner was using this boat up til I bought it 3 weeks ago. He's a stand up guy and says it didn't take on water when on the lake. I believe him and he's a local guy. This hailrine crack is about 6" long and when the hull still had water and the boat was angled downward it would seep water, not a gusher, but maybe 4-5oz a day if I guessed.

I tried to fix it with that WaterWeld stick made by JB Weld. After that cured, it just fell off the boat. Could this have been there with the previous owner and it's not big enough to take on water? Or maybe at an extremely slow rate? Or, it's a new crack and my 4 yr old and I will sink.

The crack feels very smooth to the touch, it's not like I could get any putty like repair material into the crack. I bought a repair kit from Bass Pro, but I'm new and don't want to scar my 4 yr old for life by sinking him out in the middle of nowhere.

THanks

[ProcraftMike]

Welcome to the boards!!

Can you get at the cracked hull area from inside the boat? The best repair would be to repair and reinforce it from the inside and then do a cosmetic repair to it from the outside, plus that will seal the fiberglass from the outside.

If you can get at it from the inside, some fiberglass or epoxy resin and a couple layers of fiberglass matting will do the trick. What was the repair kit that you purchased from BPS? Is it a gelcoat repair kit?

You can probably do the outside repair with MarineTex.

[dickenscpa]

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for taking your time to reply. I appreciate it.

The repair kit is the fiberglass repair kit that comes with resin, the hardener and cloth. It's a 3'X3' piece. I didn't get the gel coat one.

I can't get to it from the inside without cutting my floor. I have just about every tool but I'm torn between being scared to cut the floor and not wanting to pour a lot money into it by paying some shop more than the boat is worth.

While at the office today I called 8 local shops and only two would fool with me. One said it was a 2 hour job and cost $1-200. The other said he would have to strip the boat down lift it and turn it over, it would cost $700+, but it would be 6-8 weeks before he could get to it.

[ProcraftMike]

The repair kit you have should work for the repair.

You have to ask yourself if the appearance of the repair is going to bother you. If it is not, you need to skuff up the area good for several inches around the crack, so the repair has something to hold onto. Then you will need to do the repair from the outside of the boat. I assume the repair kit came with instructions? Do some research on the internet on working with fiberglass. I would use two (2) layers of cloth, for added strength. You can always sand down the repaired area and shoot some spray paint on it, so it matches the boat color closer.

If you are concerned with the repair appearance, you may want to get it professionaly done.


Modified by ProcraftMike at 7:54 AM 4/17/2007

[dickenscpa]

Not to concerned with appearance.LOL! It's a 1973 boat so I'm only 2 years older than it and it's 1 year older than my wife!LOL! After I responded to you last night I got a huge burst of courage and went out and cut into my floor. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be and I cleaned it up real well and hand patted it dry and put a fan on it. Tonight I plan to sand and scuff it up a bit, re-clean it and then do my repair the next night.

I was surprised when I tore into it that the crack was even LESS noticeable from the inside. I had to really search for it. I can't fathom how this crack could even leak. I wound up taking twine and going around the boat from point to point and tieing a plumb bob to get the exact location of the drip. I was pleasantly surprised to find all my stringers and so forth were in very good shape.

Thanks for the encouraging shot in the arm!

[ProcraftMike]

Glad you got at it from the inside, as it will be a much better repair. Once you do the glass work from inside, I would clean up the outside crack real good and find a way to seal the crack from the outside. You could use a small amount of fiberglass resin that you have left over from the inside repair. Just skuff the are around the outside crack real good, clean it up and then cover the crack with a little fiberglass resin.

That way the water won't try to get inside the crack area and start to delaminate the hull or cause blistering.

While you have part of the floor up, make sure you inspect everything real good and perform any necessary under floor work. At least going about it this way, you know what condition the boat is under the floor.

[dickenscpa]

<<While you have part of the floor up, make sure you inspect everything real good and perform any necessary under floor work. At least going about it this way, you know what condition the boat is under the floor. >>

I cut out a larger size floor piece than necessary but I wanted plenty of room for my sander if my mouse sander wasn't up to task. I don't have any qualms about replacing the floor. I took a year off from being a CFO and ran a construction company. I actually did the work for framing, electric, plumbing, painting and drywall. I figured all that drywall work would come in real handy when I got my fiberglass technique down.LOL! I guess all that drywall I hung and mudded made me feel more confident to cut a larger opening after the fear of the initial cut was made.

I rambled on that bird walk to say that I was very surprised at the condition of the wood under the glass floor. The plywood was in very good shape and the stringers literally looked like they couldn't have been over 5-6 years old. I assume someone else did some work here, but they did a very good job.

I was teetering on selling the boat. I bought it because it was just like a boat me and my best friend bought when we were teens and kept 'til I got married. Same color, brand and similar age. We were best friends since diapers and he died in June '04 from a tumor that had went into remission 2 years earlier. After surveying what would need to be done to restore it, I was overwhelmed, but my son came out with me last night and was getting into it so it's a keeper.LOL!

[ProcraftMike]

It sounds like you definately have the skills to tackle the job . Make sure you seal up the floor area real good that you removed. I assume you will be putting the same piece back in that you removed? If so, coat the edges with a couple coats of resin before you lay it back in, along with any wood that you add to finish the repair. You will probably need to seal the floor seam with cloth and a couple coats of resin as well. You may have to make another trip to the hardware store for more resin and cloth.

It all has to be sealed water tight, so the water and rot gremlins don't get you down the road.

Sorry to hear about your friend. It is funny how we try to obtain or hang on to things that bring us joy and rekindle memories. Good for you!! It is great to hear your son had and has a positive influence on you as well.

I had an old 1975 Starcraft 14' aluminum boat with a Johnson 40 hp. I had no reason to keep it after I finished my new boat. I ended up selling it, but the good memories in that old boat are many. Both of my boys learned to fish out of that boat and my youngest one was really upset when I sold it. There are times that I still think that I should have kept it.

[dickenscpa]

I know what ya mean. I get borderline too sentimental about things certain people give me. My wife is a given as well as my son. My parents also. Especially my Dad, he just turned 60 which isn't old, but his Dad died at 52 and he's had 2 brothers and a sister die of a heart attack in their 30's and 40's. Out of 8, 3 have died and the rest have had HA's. He's had 4 strokes and 6 HA's and I'm always afraid everytime I see him, it'll be the last.

My son is only 4 but thinks Papa HUNG THE MOON. He would be devastated if anything happened to my Dad. They are CLOSE. I can't wait to get the boat finished. My son has took to fishing big time. You ought to hear the way he talks about me since he decided to take up fishing back in November and we started going regularly. I'm his hero, I got the best Daddy, etc.

He's the reason I took a year off from big corp. accounting and when I came back into it I took a substantial paycut for another CFO job but much smaller company. I was 33 years and 1 month old in Dec '04 and he was 2 1/2. My wife doesn't work and we sat down and decided that me spending quality time with my son was more important than mega bucks to buy toys. I've now been here 1 year, I've lost 60 lbs, only work 45 or so hours a week so time to go to gym again. I also get off at 4PM no matter what and my office is only 23 miles away. They came and ate lunch with me today. The return on investment has been awesome!

[ProcraftMike]

Brad, it sounds like you have made some sound decisions. Good for you. Too many people get caught up in the corporate america mentality and end up neglecting their family. Kids grow up way to fast, not to spend time with them now.

People are living beyond their means these days and the only way to get out, is to work longer and harder. Family time suffers. There is nothing wrong with older, used autos and boats. They still get the job done. Both of our autos have over 100K on them now (112K, 130K), but they are paid for and they still run. My boat isn't the latest and greatest, but we can still fish out of it.

I refuse to follow the Jones' into bankrupcy.