Recommendations please.

[appletim1]

Hey everyone. Wondering what the best solution is for these small pin holes located below the waterline, above the prop aperture, and forward of the rudder on my Cape Dory 27.

Can I get away with Dremeling out the holes and working in faring compound, or do I have to grind all of it out then put it some glass and epoxy?

Thanks!



Thanks!

[Frenchy]

It's hard to tell, but it looks like little sections of gelcoat are missing. I'm guessing the black sub-level is
bottom paint on top of fiberglass. Why that happened is a good question.
At any rate, if that's the case, it's not serious. I would sand or gently dremel those indentations until
only fiberglass or gelcoat is visible. You want to erase any paint in those dings. Then putty smooth with an underwater fairing compound or epoxy-colloidal silica mix. Good luck - Jean

[John Stone]

Well, without seeing it in person it’s hard to be certain. But, it looks like the gelcoat has flaked a way from the laminate. Doesn’t appear to be any blistering. No biaxial cloth needed. I’d just grind the gelcoat back around the flakes or just remove that whole area as it does not look to be that big. It will be obvious to you if there is laminate problems. Probably not. Then, sand the laminate with 40 to 80 grit just to rough it up. Vacuum and acetone wipe down. Then brush on some unthickened epoxy and let it get tacky. Next, mix up some more epoxy and stir in some 406 colloidal silica and some 407 medium density fairing compound till it’s thick like peanut butter. Lay it on with a plastic trowel and smooth it out. Let it cure. Wash with 3m purple scotch pad and with it dry with white paper towel to remove the amine blush. Then sand it with a RO sander and 80 grit paper. See how it looks. You might have to mix up some more fairing compound as before and trowel that on and repeat till it’s faired to your liking. Remove the amine blush as before. Then, apply barrier coat if you want and bottom paint over that.

Sounds complicated but quite simple. West Systems has a free boat repair guide that details all these kinds of repairs in simple step by step sequence.