Boston Whaler Repair

[ColinW]

Hello,
Could you take a look at the pictures and let me know if it’s structurally possible to repair this whaler from a safety perspective and how many hours, roughly, it may take if I took it to a shop?
Thank you
Colin Walsh has shared 5 photos with you! https://www.flickr.com/photos/194577369@N03/shares/6SL41B

 

[fallguy]

It is repairable, but not sure you can replace all the components to original. Like rubrail..

These boats are made with foam inside a lite fiberglass structure. The repair procedure is a little complicated for this large damage.

Remove all damage with oscillating tool.

Taper all good glass back about 3". This is based on thickness. 1/4" thick glass is 3"

Install foam in some way that can be used to build a former. And replace glass using the foam former. I would use epoxy. But if you want to use csm; then an ester might be easier to work with as the csm binders will break down. It all depends on the intracies of the foam really. And a bit hard to tell here.

If someone else damaged the boat; repair to original may be tough because oem parts?

give a bit more context...are you wondering about buying a salvage boat? Or fixing something you damaged?

 

[ColinW]

Getting it to OEM is not a big deal. I’m interested in making it safe and strong.
Thanks for the how-to write up.

 

[fallguy]

This is largely a diy project as a repair shop may gouge you harder than the dent.

The tricky bit is getting the gelcoat to blend.

But get an hours estimate and only work on bid; not time.

 

[ondarvr]

If you just want it back on the water at a low cost and quickly, it can be done easily. Making it look like nothing happened can be done, but at a far higher cost.

The down and dirty method is to shove, hammer, pound, or in some way force the deformed section back as close as possible to its original shape. Grind the surface and glass over it. This will restore it to a usable condition.

If you want it to look right, then more care, grinding and shaping is required, and you'll be at the mercy of the repair shop.

But first it needs to be examined for damage that is hidden beneath the gel coat. Grinding around the damage to remove the gel coat will revealed how far out the glass has been fractured.