# Which route to take to repair this hull scar?



## Ricky9 (Mar 3, 2017)

Hello everyone,

I picked up a skiff needing some work, one of the speedbumps I've come across is this issue at the bottom.

I have two gashes of similar depth on the bottom of the hull. The overall exposed fiberglass is hard and no threads are breaking off. I just do not know whether to apply a marine tek substance or poly-resin it with fibers and then sand and then gel coat.








I seek the guidance of you experts to help guide me to the light!  Sorry for the low thread count, really a long time lurker lol.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Thickened epoxy after grinding a bit and then either gelcoat or a dash from a rattle can.


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## jonny (May 1, 2007)

First grind it back a bit. Then I would dab a little thickened polyester with milled fibers. Due to getting gel coat to stick to epoxy can be tricky.


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## dlpanadero (Mar 9, 2016)

Several ways to do it. If it were me, grind the gouges back a bit, fill w thickened epoxy putty (epoxy resin + fumed silica), then small piece of fiberglass (wet out w epoxy) over the putty while it is still hot. Let cure, wipe w soap and water, grind back the fiberglass, fair (gelcoat putty makes for a good fairing compound), and gelcoat. For a repair of this size gelcoat over epoxy is not a problem at all, if you wipe away the amine blush first w soap and water. On second thought, Bondo + gelcoat would also probably work well (kidding but not really).


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## CurtisWright (May 9, 2012)

I probably would do nothing. Its just a flesh wound and the next guy can deal with it. 
If your really concerned, grind it back to the glass with a 24-36grit grinding disk. I can't tell how deep into the glass it goes, you could put a little Matt and resin in there if its really deep. I have always heard only epoxy sticks to epoxy, but no experience to confirm. Also, Poly is cheap and always around for me. Then thicken some gelcoat with fumed silica and put it on with a drywall knife. Start with a block and 80grit, work your way to 400. Switch to a DA sander and polish to 1000grit. Then switch to a buffing compound and wheel to bring the shine out. Done it like that on my boat for something much worse and never a problem.


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

CurtisWright said:


> I probably would do nothing. Its just a flesh wound and the next guy can deal with it.
> If your really concerned, grind it back to the glass with a 24-36grit grinding disk. I can't tell how deep into the glass it goes, you could put a little Matt and resin in there if its really deep. I have always heard only epoxy sticks to epoxy, but no experience to confirm. Also, Poly is cheap and always around for me. Then thicken some gelcoat with fumed silica and put it on with a drywall knife. Start with a block and 80grit, work your way to 400. Switch to a DA sander and polish to 1000grit. Then switch to a buffing compound and wheel to bring the shine out. Done it like that on my boat for something much worse and never a problem.


Welcome back Curtis - been a while


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