Delete forward bow fixed porthole window

[Air O'Nautical]

More DIY...after Sandy floated my boat off it winter perch and rather gently let her settle back to the ground in a minor pile up.
Heres what it looked like.

Yes, the corner of the blue boat is stabbing through my forward fixed port light!
We separated the boats with a crane and slings with a spreader bar over the top a week after the storm.

Now a good look at the broken window..

Not too bad but, I wasn't happy!

Nowto the repair.
I was going to have this done but, got a lot of satisfaction doing it myself.

This window from the inside of the boat is inaccessible. It's behind the closet in the master stateroom.
I ordered a replacement from Sea Ray via the HIN.

After about a month the window was in....but, wrong!!
I decided to delete the window all together.

To start, I got the hull back in shape with West Systems epoxy and some marine plywood.
The wood was completely glassed over from the inside. The outside was ground out on a taper to the good solid part of the boat. The straight epoxy was not left as shown because it has little strength without fiberglass mat and cloth.
Fiberglass mat and cloth was applied over the repair area up to the original hull thickness.

Beginning the fairing process..

Now spraying the Gel coat......(First time for everything).
I mixed 70% gel (from Sea Ray, Arctic White) 30% Patch Aid and 2% MEKP, in my wife's best measuring cup..
And, sprayed from a inexpensive HVLP spray gun with a 1.5 tip, run by my 3 gallon air compressor.

The end result looks like this..

 

[Air O'Nautical]

I will add that I didn't need to tint the Gel Coat at all.
Thank you Sea Ray for using quality materials when you built my boat 18 years ago.
It's a perfect match and the repair is completely invisible.

Whole point of the posting is anyone handy living with a decent Gel Coat scratch or thin spot.......or minor damage, go ahead a fix it!

Fiberglassing isn't fun but, not hard.

Gel Coating.
I was surprised how easy it was to work with and sands and buffs out to a mirror finish with very little time and effort.

I put a total of 4 coats of Gel Coat on to get the desired thickness and sanded it with 220, 400, 600 then rubbing compound followed by Buff Magic and Pro Polish.

This repair came out better than I hoped for..
The contour of the hull, the color match, the shine, it's so nice it brings a tear to my eye..
Also, gave me the courage to fix everything else on the hull.

Cheers,

Mark.

 

[CRUZ'N]

Nice job Mark !!! A new vocation has been born ! :smt038 Tim

 

[Quint4]

Awesome repair and post.

 

[Bob & Sue]

Nice job it looks new, maybe I will fix a couple dings now that I've seen your results. You should be proud of that work. Thahks for posting.

 

[katricol]

+3 !! nice job Mark

 

[manny4608]

VERY NICE!! Awesome wright up with great pics.
Thanks for sharing:thumbsup:

 

[mwph]

I agree with the others. Nice work & a great post too.

Without getting into details, 'cause its none of my damn business, but how did the insurance company feel about you doing the work? I would think that if the boat would have "landed" with much more force, there may have been structural issues to deal with. Not to mention the labor & material rates.

Again, great post. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Air O'Nautical]

I agree with the others. Nice work & a great post too.

Without getting into details, 'cause its none of my damn business, but how did the insurance company feel about you doing the work? I would think that if the boat would have "landed" with much more force, there may have been structural issues to deal with. Not to mention the labor & material rates.

Again, great post. Thanks for taking the time.

I don't mind you asking at all.

The insurance company wrote me a nice fat check for the repairs but, could care less who actuality does the repairs.

The way the boat landed after the tide went out...I was lucky in that some blocking amazingly end up under the boat and it was supported in three places. The boat never touched the ground.
I was on scene before the water went out and added 10 boat stands all around and secured better blocking than Mother Nature provided.

The boat was surveyed after the repairs for insurance purposes and found to be in excellent shape.

If I include my time, it was a money loss and I missed a whole season of boating during the process. But, my fuel bill was GREAT, the insurance money went to much better uses.

 

[alwhite00]

Looks great, What did you do on the inside? Nice job on the gelcoat match.

LK

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Looks great, What did you do on the inside? Nice job on the gelcoat match.

LK

On this model the inside of that port is not visible.
There is a built in closet in that position.
Its cedar lined so even looking inside you can't see the port at all.
I had to remove the cedar interior panels to access the rear of the repair area.


I'm surprised they build it that way.......just to look symmetrical I guess.
I like it better without it.

The gel matches right out of the can without tinting.....it should have needed tinting due to my boats age (fading gel) but, it's perfect.
Dumb luck, maybe.

 

[Air O'Nautical]

Warning when spraying Gel Coat. Clean the gun right away or throw it out.
I just found out, both guns I used are clogged pretty good.
I didn't clean them quick enough, when using "Speed Patch Aid" the pot life is 3-6 mins.
(But you can sand it in 40 min.)

Lucky there only $10 on sale from Harbor Freight.
I'll probably just toss them and buy new for next time.

Mark.