Octane Hull dmg - need advice

[DiagNuLL]

so i looked under the hull last night to find this 9 inch section missing. i have not yet gotten a really good look at the area and the pics are not the best, but i'll get more tomorrow.

i'm not at all opposed to trying to tackle this myself but i dont want to assume that i know what i'm doing and what materials i need for the job on my first repair project based on some one elses situation.

any body have any advice

what i've gathered so far & please feel free to correct me or add insight :

area must be clean clean clean. what works best for this ? acetone ? a good ole can of brake parts cleaner ?

anything that is is loose will need to be chipped / peeled / pulled off

give the area a good scuffing with a course sand paper - is 50 grit ok? do i do this to just the exposed area, just the surounding area, or both ?

use __what__ for the repair ... ??

i imagine i want to blend the repair in to the rest of the hull past where the damage stops then send it all down to be as close as i can get it to orginal dimensions, correct ?

 

[cmeripper26]

How deep is that? If it's all the way through the gel coat, i would feather edge all around the whole perimeter and use a good fairing compound, depending on how deep it is, you could even use a little chopped cloth and epoxy resin then use a fairing compound over it, then use touch up paint. I would use a 220 grit to feather edge around the perimeter. I can't tell the depth of the patch missing. but either of these methods is what i would use. As far as cleaning after your sanding i use acetone and then clean compressed air after thoroughly cleaning the surface. Hope this helps.

 

[Kennay]

I'd prep it as you described pretty much. I prefer brake parts cleaner over acetone because it will remove anything acetone will, and it is a better degreaser by far. I wouldn't use just a filler on that because it is so broad and deep looking. I'd probably go ahead and grind the gel coat back a little, and start laying layers of something for quick buildup. Maybe something like a 12-17oz biax until it was nearly flush. I'd wait for that to kick, and then come over it with whatever filler you want (Microballoons, ect..) to go ahead and make it smooth and so it is easy to sand without going into the fiberglass. when it's all dry, since it's on the bottom, I'd just shoot it with epoxy appliance paint or something durable and cheap like that.

It might not be as deep as it looks int he pics, so don't hold me to that. It is pretty much what I would do though unless someone who really knew what they were doing told me otherwise.

Goodluck!

 

[stanton]

looks like you have some grinding to do, get rid of all delaminated or hollow parts of the glass. use chopped strand, filler, and epoxy mixed peanut butter thick.

 

[DiagNuLL]

thanks for the input guys. as far as the depth of the missing area, i would say maybe 1/16th of an inch from what i saw, maybe as deep as 1/8th but i really really doubt that its that deep - it really only seems to be gelcoat that is missing. i wanted to get out to the garage where my ski is last night but couldnt find the time so i will have to get those better pictures tonight.

what i was expecting was to just use an epoxy of some kind to replace the missing gelcoat. how sandable is epoxy ? will i need to fill mostly with epoxy then fill again with a more sandable filler once the epoxy is cured ?

also, can i work on this upside-down, or will i need to flip it over to do this correctly. pulling the motor and fuel tank and flipping it wont be a big deal if it aids in getting this done correctly.

 

[cmeripper26]

You can work on it as is if you got the space. If you say it can be as deep as 1/8th i would maybe use some 3/4 oz chopped glass mat and an epoxy resin to fill the majority of the gel coat leaving just a hairline left to fill over the cured glass with a fairing compound or a lightweight body filler. After the glass is cured you can sand the out of it, as well as the fairing compound so you can sand that too so you won't even feel the difference between the surface. Be sure to use an air roller when you are glassing to get all the little air pockets that build up in the matting.