Our sailboat needs
repairs and boat maintenance from time to
time. Boat repairs and boat upkeep can be time consuming and
costly if you don’t keep up with them and do them when you first
discover them. Needed boat repairs do not fix
themselves.
They most often get worse with time. No one likes surprises
on the water so frequent inspection of working parts and fixing small
items before they become big projects is a very wise thing to do. 
"Prevention is worth a pound of cure" or so the saying goes and items wear out from normal wear and tear. In the picture is a stuffing box that needs repacked and the hose that needs replaced. The stuffing box should only drip slightly when the shaft is turning. One day we noticed the bilge running alittle more often than we thought it should and on inspection easily found the culprit. Things we cherish get broken just from us using them too much. And so it goes with our beloved sailboat made of fiberglass. She sits in water so we have to tend to her bottom, a barrier coat and paint. She sits in the Florida sun so we have to keep the wax on the deck and the product on the stainless steel to keep it from rusting too fast. (You can’t prevent the rust because it’s going to happen, but we can delay the onset by keeping the products on it).
Putting fresh bottom paint on every 2 years is a preventative maintenance project we do. We like the PCA Gold Antifouling Paint
.
The antifouling paint keeps marine life from growing on the
bottom. Every two years we give her 3 fresh coats of
paint. Then every couple months my husband dives and cleans
off the light film of fouling that forms. This makes the boat fuel last longer
and gives us a little more speed.
Fiberglass boat hulls are porous so a barrier coat is needed of epoxy which is highly non-porous. This will seal the bottom. We also check for blisters before we paint. They are like teenage acne, very annoying. We pop the blisters that are there, dig them out, let them drain, rinse them with fresh water, let them dry, fill them with filler, sand them smooth and then paint the bottom as usual. Then the project is completed and the bottom protected for another 2 years.
Hairline cracks in the fiberglass gelcoat on the hull or deck is an infamous boat repair. They are spider web-like cracks in the gel coat. This informative video, Cosmetic Gelcoat & Fiberglass Repair, is a must have. The more information you have before you start a fiberglass project the better the outcome. If we can't make the spider web-like cracks vanish with rubbing compound, here’s what we have to do; first we gouge out the small cracks with a sharp can opener or dremel tool. Sand the edges lightly with 220 grit sand paper then clean the area with acetone. This will get rid of all debris that would interfere with the gelcoat application. Then we mix the gelcoat paste with the coloring agent and add hardener. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the colors to match but we get as close as we can. Fill the area with the paste (applied with a putty knife) and cover with saran wrap until it cures. Be sure to overfill the area as gelcoat shrinks as it cures. Sand it smooth with 600grit wet sand paper, apply marine polish and you're done.
This book will soon be your new best friend, The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual
.
Fiberglass is hard to work with because it dries and hardens so
quickly. Usually a gallon of resin wets out about 50 square
feet of 6oz cloth. 
This is common.
Epoxy is better than resin because it is less smelly, will not dissolve
foam, sticks to everything except wax and hard plastic, and is less
porous. If you get epoxy with good fillers this beats resin
hands down for fiberglass boat repairs. This
picture is the
repaired area shown in the header. These amazing results of our 23ft.
were done by my husband. It took him a summer working after
work and on weekends to totally refurbish this sailboat. He
did a great job.
There are many boat repairs to do to maintain a home on the water. So keep up with your boat repairs for the best outcome and don’t forget to take time to relax and enjoy your boat too.
"Prevention is worth a pound of cure" or so the saying goes and items wear out from normal wear and tear. In the picture is a stuffing box that needs repacked and the hose that needs replaced. The stuffing box should only drip slightly when the shaft is turning. One day we noticed the bilge running alittle more often than we thought it should and on inspection easily found the culprit. Things we cherish get broken just from us using them too much. And so it goes with our beloved sailboat made of fiberglass. She sits in water so we have to tend to her bottom, a barrier coat and paint. She sits in the Florida sun so we have to keep the wax on the deck and the product on the stainless steel to keep it from rusting too fast. (You can’t prevent the rust because it’s going to happen, but we can delay the onset by keeping the products on it).
Putting fresh bottom paint on every 2 years is a preventative maintenance project we do. We like the PCA Gold Antifouling Paint
Fiberglass boat hulls are porous so a barrier coat is needed of epoxy which is highly non-porous. This will seal the bottom. We also check for blisters before we paint. They are like teenage acne, very annoying. We pop the blisters that are there, dig them out, let them drain, rinse them with fresh water, let them dry, fill them with filler, sand them smooth and then paint the bottom as usual. Then the project is completed and the bottom protected for another 2 years.
Hairline cracks in the fiberglass gelcoat on the hull or deck is an infamous boat repair. They are spider web-like cracks in the gel coat. This informative video, Cosmetic Gelcoat & Fiberglass Repair, is a must have. The more information you have before you start a fiberglass project the better the outcome. If we can't make the spider web-like cracks vanish with rubbing compound, here’s what we have to do; first we gouge out the small cracks with a sharp can opener or dremel tool. Sand the edges lightly with 220 grit sand paper then clean the area with acetone. This will get rid of all debris that would interfere with the gelcoat application. Then we mix the gelcoat paste with the coloring agent and add hardener. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get the colors to match but we get as close as we can. Fill the area with the paste (applied with a putty knife) and cover with saran wrap until it cures. Be sure to overfill the area as gelcoat shrinks as it cures. Sand it smooth with 600grit wet sand paper, apply marine polish and you're done.
This book will soon be your new best friend, The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual
.
Fiberglass is hard to work with because it dries and hardens so
quickly. Usually a gallon of resin wets out about 50 square
feet of 6oz cloth. This is common.
Epoxy is better than resin because it is less smelly, will not dissolve
foam, sticks to everything except wax and hard plastic, and is less
porous. If you get epoxy with good fillers this beats resin
hands down for fiberglass boat repairs. This
picture is the
repaired area shown in the header. These amazing results of our 23ft.
were done by my husband. It took him a summer working after
work and on weekends to totally refurbish this sailboat. He
did a great job.There are many boat repairs to do to maintain a home on the water. So keep up with your boat repairs for the best outcome and don’t forget to take time to relax and enjoy your boat too.
