Fiberglass rot near thru hull

Can you give some reference points to that picture? I assume bottom of frame is towards the bow and the top of frame is towards the stern? Is the crack you refer to that 'C' shaped line in the pic? Looks like you've ground pretty deep and still have the crack. Is it visable from inside the boat? How thick is the glass at the big hole in the center? Are you thinking that the water is draining down from a space between layers in the glass? Time, heat and a fan would help dry that. Get one of those solar panels from Harbor Freight and connect a small fan and put it up by the hull and let it blow all day and see if that speeds up the drying. Or get a cheap invertor and a deep cycle battery and run a fan on it for a few days.
 
That is a nasty looking crack... (did I say that?) Unfortunately, it's all gotta go.

The best way to tell if the area is completely dried out is to take a piece of Saran/plastic wrap, and tape it tightly over the area. Check it the next day- if there's condensation formed on the inside of the plastic, you've still got some drying time to go. If not, you're good to go.

Since you've got a penetration (thru-hull hole), you'll need to tape that off to seal it airtight from the inside as well.
 
You can see on the top picture at the bottom the SB shaft. The AC pickup is on the SB side just ahead of the shaft. The crack is "above" the hole on the other side from the keel.
If you look at the crack it is directly below the stringer near the fuel tanks. TOBNPR you should know what I'm talking about, I would think yours is somewhat similar.
Anyway, after looking at it again, I'm wondering if the crack isn't because I have actually ground into the fiberglass on the bottom of the stringer? I sounded the stinger with a phenolic deadblow hammer and it sounded OK to me.
I actually have a solar panel already, and a 12V fan that I was going to mount in my old shed, That should work!
I'll let you guys know.
 
Update on the repair. Fan has been running off solar panel until today. It appeared to be dry earlier in the week, but Iwas out of town so I left it there for good measure. I also blew some air in there with a nozzle and all appears OK. I don't have photos of the before, because I wanted to get the patch in place and didn't want to grab the phone for a photo with resin all over my hands!
I basically did the same thing that is recommended by the West Systems videos. Drew a pattern on plastic and then cut out descending circles to match. Large patch first wet all patches out together and placed on wax paper large patch in to repair first. Made a mayonaise consistancy paste with Cab-O-Sil and "painted" the repair area and then placed patch and spread even with body putty spreader. I purposly made the patch a little thicker than I thought beacause I didn't want to be to thin. I also wanted to have enough extra to grind down flush before putting on the Interlux WaterTite.
Here's what it looks like now still under the wax paper.
By the way, It ended up being a 9 1/2 in round patch when all was said and done!
2010-05-27%2015.59.15.jpg
 
New update:
I ground and sanded the patch down until it was just below flush with the gelcoat. I put the Interlux WaterTite on and allowed it to set overnight.
This morning I went out and sanded the bottom until it checked out flush. I also sanded down the fiberglass over the backing block inside to make sure it was flush.
I used a drill guide I got at Sears the other day for $25 because I was worried that I was going to drill it crooked and the surfaces wouldn't be flush when the seacock and strainer were installed. Anyhow, here are the pictures of the nearly completed repair. I have to bottom paint and do some more cleaning in the bilge before I can say complete.
Question, What have you used that would work to repair the grey bilge paint that was removed? Brand, Color, Etc..

Here's the underside with the new scoop thru hull installed. Hopefully once the bottom paint is on you won't notice. I'm planning a bottom paint removal for next year. This will allow me to find these types of issues easier as well.
2010-05-30%2016.15.04.jpg

Here's the new Seacock and backer board (not my best work but I was getting tired of cramming myself in the bilge).
I hope I don't have to remove it because I liberally used the 5200 to be sure there were no leaks. You can see in this pic the amount of cleaning I still need to do.
2010-05-30%2016.12.18.jpg
 
Interlux Bilgekote gray is a fairly good match for the gray gel/paint Sea Ray used. It can be tinted by a paint store if you're really worried about an exact match. The repairs look very good. You may want to put some barrier coat on that newly repaired area, but the watertite should be enough, especially if you are going to strip the bottom next season.
 
Not worried about an exact match, my bilge is dirty anyhow, just looking for something so that one area is not so noticable.
I have plans to take the bottom back to gelcoat and barrier coat and repaint. I have counted as many as 5 layers of paint in some places, you can see 4 in the picture of the thru hull scoop.
I must say I was pretty pleased with the repair. Everything came out flush and appears to be sealed. I will have to wait until it goes in the water to be sure all is well. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be.
 
Thanks, I was really pleased. I put it off for a few days because I was nervous about mixing the Cab-O-Sil and being able to apply it without the patch starting to set up.
After doing it, it's not that hard, just time consuming.
Another plus is that all the reading and research gave me some good information for future use. (Hopefully there is no need to use it :grin:)
douglee25 said:
Repair looks great! Good luck!

Doug
Click to expand...
 
Hey Mark
Just stumble on this thread. Final product looks really nice. GOOD JOB!
It's alway something with these old boats!
 
I know you feel my pain Ron! Thats the main reason I am still on land. All that needs to do now is buff and wax and it's ready to go swimming.
After all the time I spent this winter on the door I was right on schedule to finish the bottom paint and be ready to go before Memorial Day, But.. The "ol girl" had other ideas. Now that I have done it I realized I wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm hoping it's all good.
I know one thing, the cross section of the repair from the hole I drilled out looks really good. The area is good and solid. I'm glad I took the time to grind it all the way out and do it right instead of just patching. Hopefully there aren't any more issues.
Started it up tonight through the flush kits and ran it up to temp. All appears good.
 
Looks great! Much more important than looks- you did everything professionally.

Bilge paint... I purchased a gallon of two-part industrial epoxy (I preferred white) from Sherwin-Williams. They have a full line of industrial paints and coatings- this was the stuff they use to paint the insides of steel tanks containing corrosives. You can hit the painted surface with a hammer...
 
I have heard that SW has really good paint. I never even thought of it, but a co-worker used to work for them years back and told me that they used to sell alot of marine paints.
I was also doing a search on BilgeKote and it seems that Hatteras used to use SW as the original paint in the bilge.
I may have to check them out. thanks.
 
I dont know what you are planning to remove the paint with but if you use sand it will open every little imperfection in the gel coat and make areas of the bottom look like the surface of the moon. Media blasting or "soda" blasting is much more gentle on the surface. In either case I would plan on a good barrier coat and then I would use an ablative paint. It wears off over time and won't build up like that. Gotta love bottom paint...yyyuuuuuuccchhhh!!
 
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