fixing hull damage?

[CaneFF]

Hey all,
I did an interior/trailer restore on a 1969 fishmaster over the past 22 months or so. I was out fishing the other night and noticed that the bilge pump in the rear was running alot more than usual. Before I knew it I had 6" of water in the rear of the boat and the 500gph pump was having trouble keeping up. I hadn't ran aground or hit anything, so I was stumped as to what happened. I motored back to the ramp with the boat feeling very heavy and the motor struggling.

After getting the boat on the trailer I noticed a LARGE amount of water coming out from the rear/bottom that wasn't normal. I finally realized the reason the boat was feeling so heavy and the motor was struggling was the large amount of water I must have been carrying w/me. I'm lucky I didn't end up on the bottom!

After arriving home I found the problem, a 6-8" gash in the keel of the middle hull (it's a tri-hull boat). I've attached some pictures.

Does this look like a do-it-yourself type repair (fiberglass patch/mat?) or should I leave this to the pro's. I've never done fiberglass work before.

Thanks for all input!

[racefan]

I say take it to a pro. Your life may be saved on this repair as that is a big gash.

[luvdmymerc]

CaneFF...I have seen this before, and it ain't good. What it looks like has happened is the
water that accumulates in the bilge has finally penetrated through the fiberglass, rotted out the wood reinforcing material and fully compromised the keel area of your boat.
Notice the ripples in the gel coat and the dark colored wood. It looks all rotted out to me.
It can be fixed of course, but it will cost you way too much money if you have it profes-
sionally done. If you take on the job yourself, plan on being back on the water sometime
next spring, if you're lucky, and really work fast. My buddy Andy had to do a very similar
project about 8 years ago. He fished out of that same boat yesterday and caught a bunch
of fish, so if you're in for a chalenge let me know, and I can walk you though the steps it
will take to get it done right.

[CaneFF]

Thanks for the info Luvmymerc. I was afraid it was more serious that I first thought.

Can you give me a brief overview of what it will take? I appreciate the insight and info!

[javelin90]

I looked at the pictures. Do you have any pics looking at the hull from inside? I agree that you have your work cutout. If your mechanically inclined and are comfortable you can make the repairs. Based on the pictures i saw you will need to get inside of the hull and see exactly what your up against and go from there. If you have alot of moisture and water damage you will need to remove all of it and start fresh. One of the most important steps in repairing fiberglass is getting rid of the rot and moisture damage and properly sanding everything at the repair area. Before you begin the repair make sure to draw pictures and take notes and if you have a digital camera that is a good reference ot back up your drawings and notes. I tried a repair on my ranger back in 91 and was using polyester resin/hardener and the repair was shotty in the least. I have done alot of research and am using marinepoxy and hardener and it is the best you can get as far as epoxy bonding to polyester. Make sure not to use polyester resin as your repair will not last and you will be dissapointed with all the time you spent repairing the hull.

I will try to post some picture by Wednesday showing as an example how i got the wood to bond to the hull.
See if you can get some pictures of the hull inside.
Thanks

[javelin90]

CaneFF, hope oyu don't mind me asking luvmymerc about a motor. I have a 99suzuki 225hp and the #1 cylinder has a hole i nthe piston. I have pulled the head off and the jug/block is scored and will need to be replaced. My question is that i have read that alot of motors of all types have experienced this and can be anything from detonation to fuel or stator issues. I'm mechanically inclined and was wondering based on your own knowledge would it be impossible for me to repair/rebuild my motor? I have been told that the motor is not worth rebuilding but same was said on the javelin i bought. I got the motor,trailer,motor, and trolling motor all for $700. What are your thoughts about the motor???

I can buy a used one but no guarantee i wont have to rebuild that in a season.
Thanks, G.

I appreciate your input and thank you also KaneFF

[CaneFF]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by javelin90 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I looked at the pictures. Do you have any pics looking at the hull from inside? I agree that you have your work cutout. If your mechanically inclined and are comfortable you can make the repairs. Based on the pictures i saw you will need to get inside of the hull and see exactly what your up against and go from there. If you have alot of moisture and water damage you will need to remove all of it and start fresh. One of the most important steps in repairing fiberglass is getting rid of the rot and moisture damage and properly sanding everything at the repair area. Before you begin the repair make sure to draw pictures and take notes and if you have a digital camera that is a good reference ot back up your drawings and notes. I tried a repair on my ranger back in 91 and was using polyester resin/hardener and the repair was shotty in the least. I have done alot of research and am using marinepoxy and hardener and it is the best you can get as far as epoxy bonding to polyester. Make sure not to use polyester resin as your repair will not last and you will be dissapointed with all the time you spent repairing the hull.

I will try to post some picture by Wednesday showing as an example how i got the wood to bond to the hull.
See if you can get some pictures of the hull inside.
Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Jav,
I'm afraid right now I can't see the hull from the inside. I had the floor completely redone with two layers of fiberglass, so it's looking like that was a waste of money. There is no access to the bilge from up above, unless I start pulling out carpet and cutting holes in my new floor

[luvdmymerc]

CaneFF....I'm sorry you put so much work into the floor before checking the hull con-
dition a little closer. While you're at it, before you tear into the hull work, you better check the transom too. It is VERY likely that if the keel area is all rotted out the transom could be shot too. If its good, and you know the motor is sound, then you
just have to decide how much blood, sweat and tears you want to put into the thing.

The first step you'll want to do is take ALL the externals off of the boat. Pull the outboard motor and put it on an appropriate stand.
( Or hang it up in a tree by a come-a-long like we did Andy's.)
Then after everything is OFF of, and OUT of, the boat, you can take off the rub rail and the approximately 10,000 screws or rivets that hold the two halves of your hull together. Then use 3 more come-a-longs and hoist the top half up into another tree.
(A 60 to 70 year old oak works best for this, but an old maple or sycamore will do in
a pinch.)

Now the real fun begins. The first thing you have to do is determine how far the ROT
actually goes. There will probably be a layer of water logged fiberglass on top of the rotted wood. All of that has to come out. It will be a nasty, stinkin' mess. But you have to get through all that junk to get to that final layer of fiberglass.

Now that you have all the junk out. You clean it up the best you can so the new fiberglass will stick to it. Then, slide it off of the trailer and flip it over. Then after cutting away all of the rotted fiberglass, you make the normal inside/outside fiberglass repair you always do when you patch a hole. Just on a larger scale. After doing your sanding and reshaping on the outside patches, go ahead and paint it now while it is
still light and can be easily flipped over.

Now that the actual holes and cracks are all patched, sanded and painted, its time to
put the plywood reinforcement material back in. Slide the hull back on the trailer and
cut 1/4" marine grade plywood in strips to the appropriate size pieces to fit the inside of the hull between the braces. Bore several 1/2" holes in each piece in a random pattern. Then mix your fiberglass resin and apply liberally to the inside of the hull. Put
each piece of plywood in place and push them down where the fiberglass resin oozes
up through the 1/2" holes. Then apply another liberal amount of fiberglass resin, fully
encapsulating the plywood and bonding the top layer of fiberglass with the bottom layer. Now put new fiberglass matting down in the still wet resin and apply another
liberal coat of resin on top of that. After this cures, sand and paint and reassemble
boat in reverse order of disassembly.

I tried to keep these instructions as light hearted as possible. If you don't have a little
bit of a sense of humor, and if you didn't have the patience to even read them, you
should not try to do the project. You will need patience and a sense of humor in order
to have a chance in heck or completing this project.

[javelin90]

I have to agree with what luvmymerc posted. It is a tedious process and not to mention the constant itching from the fiberglass. It does require a sense of humor and also patience. It is too bad that you have done all thatwork prior to the hull. It looks like to make a good repair you will seperate the top cap from the hull. If you do that make sure to check your transom. If there is any delamination of the fiberglass or moisture you might as well replace it while you have it apart. If your splashwell has a lip on it going towards the back side of the ext. transom area you might be able to use a spreader bar to seperate the top cap from the hull in that area. I was able to do mine that way and save cutting the lip on the splashwell and adding additional repairs later.

[CaneFF]

Thanks for the info. I didn't spend much time on fixing the floor just some $$$. I paid a guy to do it for me. I called him this morning and asked if he noticed any rotting wood because he completely tore out the old floor and installed everything new. He did a great job and the floor was solid. However after some thinking, after I paid him for that the boat sat out in the yard about 9 months (son being born stalled my $$$ and progress) so it very well could have been holding some water during that time.

Anyway I took the boat over for him to look at today. He said he would hoist the boat up in the air and drop the rear to completely get all the water out (it's still dripping after a week out of the water) and see how much damage there is. He was optimistic and said he would "work with me" if I wanted him to fix it. I guess I'll know more in a few days

[boostedone]

Well, unless your son is 10 years old now, I wouldnt blame the rot on it sitting for 9 months at the guy's place.

If he had access to the stringers and stiffeners etc and didn't check them for rot while he was at it and atleast give you the option fix, bail, or ignore the problem, I might be a little sore at him depending on how much the repair cost you though.

[boostedone]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by luvmymerc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
The first step you'll want to do is take ALL the externals off of the boat. Pull the outboard motor and put it on an appropriate stand.
( Or hang it up in a tree by a come-a-long like we did Andy's.)
</TD></TR></TABLE>

What I found works really well is just using an automotive engine stand. I have one of those cheap ones from Autozone or some place, and its just tall enough to hold my 200 Merc and jackplate. Before I took it off the boat I measured how far it was from the mount plate on the stand to the floor, and then from the mount plate to the bottom of the skeg. I tilted the motor up a touch so the skeg wouldnt hit the floor when on the stand and then disconnected and removed it from the boat. Even the bolts that held the motor to the transom were long enough to be used with the stand.