Builders' Forum

   Crack 3/4" wide?

Hi prevy, 

sorry for your pain/accident.  but it sounds very repairable.

there are two issues that will impact how you approach this repair.  1)  do you have a bright hull or painted hull?    and 2) do you have easy access to the inside of the hull.

regardless of the situation above, the main goal of the repair is to ensure that the repair is waterproof on the inside and the outside and the secondary goal is to make it look as nice as possible.

what you are describing, sounds as you say, an impact that 'cracked' or knocked in the plywood which makes up the hull.  it is small enough that it does not appear to in any way, create a structural issue....so like i said, its about ensuring waterproofness of both sides (the inside and outside) and trying to make it look nice.

the easiest way to make it look nice and deal with this is to coat the entire crack area with wet epoxy and somehow push and hold the wood in place while that initial wet epoxy cures.  if you can get there from the inside and push it out by bracing a stick or something on it, that would be my first choice prior to drilling a hole and pulling it.... as that will look nicer especially if the hull is bright.  

once you basically have the piece glued back in place, you then want to sand and remove some of the glass on the outside and reglass it.  you also then want to remove any broken glass on the inside/sand the existing glass to good glass and  put a glass patch over it on the inside to ensure it is totally waterproof.  again, if the boat is not painted, you will need to be a bit more careful then if the boat is painted.  but its essentially the same process.

if you don't have any access to the inside, the approach changes a bit but send a note if that's the case as it gets a bit trickier to explain as well as execute.

i hope that helps

h