10ft Fiberglass boat repair

[doublenasty]

I bought this boat off Craigslist and I have completely rebuilt it pretty much

Refiberglassed the entire bottom and made it more sturdy!! Now it is time to Camo it up...

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After

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Next is paint!!

[Goldfish]

I was thinking about this with the boat I'm repairing. The front bottom of the keel was worn thru and I needed to repatch it much like you did. Has anyone ever thought of including a metal strip right along that line on a fiberglass boat, just to add something a little more solid than glass for rocks, stumps, etc? Thought about using resin to set a flat peice of aluminum right along the major impact point.

[assateague]

I don't know why that wouldn't be an excellent idea.

[doublenasty]

I'll try it!! That sounds like an awesome idea

[Goldfish]

Obviously, steel would just rust and then you'd have a hole. If you glass completely over the strip of aluminum, it'll wear thru eventually and you'll have that hole again. If you just glassed it in place, is the resin going to be able to hold it there?

These are my concerns with it. I am most certainly going to do this with my kayak since dragging it will be the most abuse it'll see, but on a boat with a motor I'd imagine it'll see more stress.

(I over think things)

They make rubber stick on strips for boats to do this same thing, but they want over $100 for them. For me, and I'd imagine double, that's more of an investment than seems logical for these little boats. I don't know how much you have into it DN, but mine including purchase, buying sanding supplies, and paint, is still under $100.

[assateague]

Whatever metal you use, I'd drill a ton of holes in it, maybe 3/16". When the resin fills them,, they should help by acting like little "resin rivets" or something. I'd still put a thin layer of glass over the top afterwards, though.

[doublenasty]

I'll try it this weekend and let everyone no how it works out!!