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I was trying to lift my 17' Great Auk with a hoist in my garage today and the bolts sheared on one end. The stern end fell about 4' back onto the sawhorse leaving a pretty good mark, but it doesn't appear to be cracked. I can see the weave and its now somewhat separated from the wood. With that, the epoxy and varnish don't appear to have opened up.
Here's my question. Do I need to address this right away and start sanding out the bruise or do I see if I'm still watertight? If I need to make the repair before the boat goes back in the water, and its only been out 4 times, what's the right method? Do I need to go all the way through to the wood and re-lay a couple of small layers of fabric and then revarnish the hull. And can I spot varnish for the first few coats and then just do a single coat over the hull to blend?
I've relied on this forum during the building process but haven't posted. Thanks in advance for any help.
Steve
Yardley, PA
2 replies:
RE: Repair Question
Joel,
Thank you for the above advice. I was afraid I had her in dry dock going into the winter. I'll get back out for a test drive and see how the bruise holds up before pulling out the sander.
Steve
RE: Repair Question
» Submitted by Zackin, Joel - Sat, 10/22/16 » 5:14 PM
Steve,
You can use your boat, and that will tell you if you are getting water under the glass. No worries, it will be very localized, and does not cause any immediate damage. One of the nice features of an epoxy/varnish construction/finish is you can see the wood and what is happening to it.
If the wood is getting wet, you are correct: Remove the varnish and, if the glass is lifted off the wood, remove it too. At this time let the wood dry out if any mosture got in there from use. Then use small pieces of glass to patch. Sand and varnish that area. You need not varnish the entire boat unless you are looking for that level of finish. You are the only person who will notice.
Of course, if after use no mosture is getting to the wood, keep using the boat untill you have gathered enough dings to a touch up. Check out the CLC article http://www.clcboats.com/life-of-boats-blog/what-happens-when-stitch-and-glue-boats-age.html
Try to use your boat as much as possible - more dings will happen, and you will realize this is good. Have fun,
Joel