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Re: Strip: Repair tips
By:Paul G. Jacobson
Date: 2/25/2003, 7:14 pm
In Response To: Strip: Repair tips (sage)

: I have 3 new holes in my yak. She is a Night Heron and the biggest hole is
: around station 15 2" below the sheer line down through the chine. Any
: basic repair tips out there? One of the holes in the cockpit appears worse
: on the inside than out. . .

: This one I have a large punch through and then a
: long area that still looks like it is compressed on the out side but on
: the inside is a long tear in the glass. Am I right in that all this wood
: needs to be replaced?

The damaged glass needs to be repaired, but if the wood is not wet and you can push it back into place you don't need to do very much. When you coat the wood with a fresh coat of epoxy resin the resin will soak into the tiny cracks, sealing them, and making that area stronger than the original wood. It will also make the boat a fraction of an ounce heavier. No big deal. The torn wood fibers and any gaps between them will be a different color than the surrounding wood, probably a shade darker, but the damage pattern will probably look like wood grain, so that area will not attract attention after it is patched.

If there are areas where wood is missing you can cut them out with a sharp utility knife ( many passes, light pressure) or a thin saw, such as one used for repairing drywall. Cut just inside a seam line and you can later enlarge the hole with a chisel, knife or plane so that it comes right up to the edge of a strip, making the repair less noticeable.

Just slip in a few scrap strips (square edge ones go in easily) and glue them into place. To keep little pieces from falling through, use a tiny dot of hot glue to hold a few toothpicks on the inside of the boat. Once they are in place you can rest your short replacement strips on these toothpicks while the glue dries. You probably don't need any clamping. Later you can knock the toothpicks free with a screwdriver, or they'll just fall off when you sand the area. I found a really nice 90 second epoxy glue at the local drugstore and I've been using it for repairs around the house. I'd use that, or some of the more common 5 minute epoxy, for gluing in the replacement wood where needed. With either product the joint is strong enough to sand in 30 minutes, and you can apply a patch within an hour without worries about the glue not drying.

To start the repairs, sand away the glass over the damaged areas. Hold your sander at a slight angle so that you have an area an inch or two wide where the thickness of the glass tapers from untouched to bare wood. Once the wood repairs are done, you'll overlap these areas with a patch of fiberglas and epoxy resin, sand the areas smooth and put on fill coats to restore the area to like-new condition.

Depending on the damage, you might want to just remove the glass from one side and patch that side only. Een when there is an injury that penetrates the hull and both layers of glass, don't rush to remove the inside glass. Sometimes the damaged glass on the inside is just strong enough to hold the pieces in place. Leaving it alone while you patch the outside beats trying to refit and clamp tiny pieces. Eventually you'll patch the second side, but that should go easily.

I'd patch the outside first and make it pretty, and then do the inside and make it adequate.

hope this helps

: As to how this damage happened you will have to wait for the trip report to
: be completed.

I'm sittin' here waiting to hear this.

Sounds like you ran into something harder than water. Hope you were not injured by the incident.

PGJ

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Repair tips
sage -- 2/25/2003, 4:12 pm
Re: Strip: Repair tips
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/25/2003, 7:14 pm
Re: Strip: Repair tips
sage -- 2/25/2003, 7:39 pm
Re: Strip: Repair tips
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/25/2003, 9:18 pm
:D :b :D *NM*
sage -- 2/25/2003, 10:40 pm
Re: Strip: Repair tips
sage -- 2/25/2003, 10:38 pm