Lets just say a dumb guy decided to paddle his S&G up a too shallow creek in northern Maine. He then proceded to have to back it out of a too tight spot in the creek and managed to put a nice dime sized punch through type hole in the hull of his boat on the keel line just behind the cockpit due to a certain large unsen rock in the 6-8" deep fast moving water.

The hole is "dime sized" as mentioned and slightly punched in. The wood is crushed and broken but the piece isn't totally broken away from the hull. NO leaks or anything actually which surprized me. maybe the wood swelled slightly to seal the new semi-hole. I did cover the hole with a ducttape patch for the long paddle home after I found the hole (maybe 3 hours of water contact between getting the hole and finding out there was one).

Is it better to just sand the area down and fill the hole with epoxy and reinforcent inside and out with glass (not too bad looking since the piece didn't get puched out per say) or is it probably better to cut a small piece of the hull out (maybe quarter or hald dollar sized) and then cut a new piece and reglass, etc.

if I just fill and reglass, I have to definitely dry the area sufficiently to keep water from being sealed in the epoxy coated nowexposed internal wood fibers.

appreciate any comments, thanks, Pete czerpak albany, NY