Materials to use to repair holes and Rot

[whf1027]

Hi great site and lots of info here.

I have a 1979 16' Eliminator Bass Boat with several holes in the hull and bad patches on them, rotten floor/deck, soft/squishy/wet transom, and not sure on the runners, I still need to pull the cap + outboard and rip out the deck. It has sat for 5 years and I picked it up for $100, right now I am figuring it will cost around $2000 to $3000 to fix, hopefully on take a year max. The boat will be use on freshwater but I expect logs/trees will be run over on the lakes I will fish. I want to repair the holes and then fiberglass the whole bottom of the boat with epoxy and cloth, and also strengthen the inside too. I also would like to I have experience with cloth and epoxy, and would like to stick with that.


I cant decided on the type of Fiberglass cloth(E-Glass or S-2) to use and/or use carbon + kevlar. How much (weight and layers) should I use on the bottom of the hull and on the inside, and how should I lay it. Also, will at least use marine grade plywood on transom and deck but I might use Coosa for the transom. If pictures will help, let me know I will post them.

[alan white]

Cloth selection shouldn't be based on ,much more than price in the case of adding to an existing layup. Carbon and Kevlar would make no sense because the percentage savings in weight is tiny compared to what those materials normally yield percentage-wise.
For instance, a kevlar/carbon kayak might lose 20 lbs from what fiberglass would weigh, a savings of 10% of the all-up weight including occupant. Yet such a boat costs twice as much as its fiberglass sistership.
Your savings might amount to 50 lbs, and if your boat weighs 1000 lbs you've saved 5%, but that 5% will cost you an arm and a leg and a lot more work.
If the hull is sound except for the holes, just fix the holes and strengthen the hull on the inside with intelligent beefing in key areas---- across the bottom, transom, and whatever else looks like it could use some improvement.
One single later of glass on the bottom isn't a bad idea, but fair it well after repairs and before glassing, long-boarding the uneven areas. I like microlight fron West, because it feathers well and stretches epoxy a lot. Create a perfect bottom with microlight, and glassing will be easy and a couple of extra coats will make it ready for paint.
You'll get the barrier coat and a good-as-new hull. But do your reinforcing through framing and stringers and bulkheads for a lighter boat.

Alan

[marshmat]

The cloth to use, IMHO, would be an E-glass weave at 8-12 oz. Carbon or Kevlar would be wasted on a hull that's already mostly fibreglass.
$2000 sounds a little low for a complete rebuild on your 16-footer. Expect contingencies and cost overruns.
West System is a popular and well-proven epoxy for marine repair work.
In any case, you have your work cut out for you.

[ondarvr]

If your taking the deck off the boat to repair the stringers and transom, why would you want to then glass the outside of the hull? All you need to do add whatever amount of glass you think you need to the inside while your doing the rest of the work. Other types of glass would be stronger and better suited for this type of work and don't get hooked on epoxy, it's great stuff, but will make little or no difference in how well this repair works or lasts.

You should be able to reduce your costs dramatically and have a boat that will do everything you want by using polyester resin with mat and roving.

[whf1027]

Thanks for the fast replies.

Ok, looks like I'll go with E-Glass around 9oz with epoxy, I already have a gallon of west system & 207 from a previous project. Thanks for the advice on cost overrun but if it does, it will just take longer to finish. I dug deeper into the boat and it is starting to look worse, I'm really ready to get the motor off and cap to really see what I have but it will be a few weeks before I do that. The runners near the transom looked ok, but looks 100% rotted under the floor in the middle of the boat, thinking I need to rip all the plywood out of the runners too and replace. Theres some type of foam in the middle of the runners too( if the boat sinks?), what should I replace it with?

I'll post a few pictures of what I found. Not sure if the boat is worth the trouble, but if I do it I know it will be great boat. I want to glass the outside of the hull to help protect it from further log/tree strikes.

[PAR]

I'm familiar with that manufacture and their products of that era. If it's like most of that age and not seen much care (typical) it will have a rot in all the major wooden components, transom, stringers, sole support structure, moisture filled foam (gas, water, etc.), worn out electrics, etc.

Most of this is from the deck cab, which serves as a hull liner too, having holes drilled in it for hardware, that have lost their bedding and permitted leaking into the hull shell below. The structural elements below are plywood and solid lumber, lightly coated with resin and chopped 'glass, which isn't very water proof. This coupled with the fact there are no weep holes in this structure, nor any way for the moisture to get out of the boat or drain aft to a transom plug, makes the pieces under the cap rot, once moisture gets in.

You can repair this, but it's a lot of work. Epoxy and E 'glass are your best choices for strength and ease of use, by an amateur, working under a shade tree. Though polyester or vinylester can be employed, they aren't as beginner friendly, aren't as water proof nor as strong as epoxy. Besides, you already have a gallon (you may need more). In Texas, you may need to switch to 209 hardener for use in the warmer months, as I expect your weather is much like mine here in central Florida, and you'll want the extra working time 209 can offer.

There are many previous posts on this site, that can address much of what you're about to attempt. This is a common set of repairs questions.

As far as making it strong enough to resist slamming loads from running over logs a WOT, you're pretty much out of luck. If you hit a stump or log at the speeds this rig is capable of, you'll have damage, regardless of the amount of goo and cloth you apply (within reason). Avoid the logs, trust me, I've hit them too and they're tough on the lower leg of you engine to say the least, let alone the bottom of your boat.

Additional layers of cloth inside, will help penetration and slamming loads and not require you to fair more then you have to, like you would if applied on the exterior. Tighten her up, slap her back together and have fun with your $100 boat. It's rare that a silk purse can be crafted of a sow's ear, so remember what she is and take the family out on the wet, rather then try to make this old gal into something she can't be. Good Luck . . .

[ondarvr]

If you have some epoxy then use it.

I help many people do these types of repairs and I always tell them to spend as little money as possible to get the job done correctly.
What typically happens is they get a boat for little or no money and want to fix it up, they do some research and see all these great products they can use to make the boat better than new, the problem is the cost is high for these items. Some go the route of putting the $3,000.00 into a $100.00 boat, only to find out after they've used it for one summer the boat isn't what they need or want, now they have $3,100.00 + labor into something that's worth $600.00 on a good day. Whether you use the best stuff you can buy, or stuff from Wal-Mart, it will most likely outlast your interest in the boat. It sounds like a good idea when you start the job, to make it last forever, the problem is most new boat owners don't know what they want or need when they get that first boat. I don't want to discourage you from doing the repairs, but check out the boats you can buy with that same $3,000.00. With little or no work you could be on the water next week instead of next summer.

It's different if you've boated for years and know what you want, then getting a hull you like and making the boat into what you want can be a great project.