Hull Repair/refinishing ?'s

[james 14]

I have three things I'm looking to do that I don't know much about:

 

1. Repair two small chips in the bottom of the hull about the size of a thumbnail

 

2. Refinish the right above the rub rail where the gelcoat (or whatever) has flaked off the leaving the glitter exposed.

 

3. Wax or polish the while part of the hull. Some spots may need light sanding but I am unsure of the general process.

 

 

I was thinking I would do these things in this order as it makes the most sense to me anyways.

[BassnChris]

I am in no way a fiberglass repair guy. I was going to do some of these things to my boat as well. Finally my smarter brain talked me into hiring someone to do it for me. I lucked out and found some very close ( in my neighborhood) on craigslist with fiberglass repair experience and references and hired him at an extremely good price.

That being said, there are a lot of how to's and videos on the Internet and YouTube inparticular that go over how to repair fiberglass.

Be very careful and proceed with EXTREME caution if you decide to do repairs yourself.

It might pay off to buy a junk fiberglass something or other and practice on that before going on to your boat?

Good luck.

[joetomlee]

I agree with Chris. Fiberglass repair is an art, much like bodywork is to a car. It really is not something you should attempt to tackle on your own. The damage doesn't sound too severe, so I would recommend calling and quoting it out with a couple of Marinas. One year I had bottomed out on rocks and chipped off a couple small pieces of my boat. I took two quotes for the repair and received a $1,000 difference in estimates. I am a big do-it-yourself-er but there come times when it really needs to be sent out to be serviced by someone else. I am very glad I had not tried to do it myself and so my suggestion to you is the same.