Hole in hull

[Bassin Billy]

OK - bought a used boat at a great price. Fixing minor things as I find them. Somehow I missed a 1/8" wide by 3" long hole running down the pad. It is right where it goes off the pad on a corner. From looking in it, it looks as if it is wide open to fill with water. Any suggestions on a fix??

[basshole45]

cleran up the area really well ,,dry it out ,and what i did which may not be a complete pro job but its held up for near 10 years,,i cut up some squares of heavy mat for bigger repairs,,went underneath and curved some tape around the form of the pad /hull,go back in from the top pack in the squares of mat and then follw behind with resin jelly,till its filled the hole totally up then go 3 or 4 inches past and cut a few bigger squares of matt and layer the jelly across it till its formed and the hole is totally filled.Let dry overnight then follow with some fiberglass resin and a few more layers of mat until you feel like you have a good air tight seal popping the bubbles and using a wood roller .Follow up with the same on the underside i used a piece of foil to lay the mat on and coated it then pressed foil and matt up on the hull then pulled the foil off,,,Sorry for the book but ive done this twice and it def holds up just remember that mat is what is giving you the strength not the resin as much so use enough for the job to fill that hole

[Bassin Billy]

Thank you sir. I am gonna go see what west marine has in stock one day this week..

[pappastratos]

I repaired one the shape of a football. Best to repair from the inside. That section of the boat takes a beating. Before you glass, be sure to grind areas that will have glass/resin down to where you see some fabric. Resin does not adhere very well to gelcoat or the outside of cured resin.
You can try to repair from the outside, you will need to "V" out the area atleast 3" from the hole. Do you plan on turning boat over to repair ? If not, a gel resin may work. You could make a form that matches the hull for the area to hold mat/cloth/resin in place until it cures. Let me know if you need more info, I have repaired 2 damaged bass boats, one I brought back from the dead....