Repair tips needed for large hole in hull - 275 Explorer

[chadstew]

I got a little close an oil platform offshore after making some poor choices about tying off to it in rougher seas.... There was a pipe sticking out perpendicular that just punched a hole right through the side of the hull--it punctured all the way through the hull (leaving a 6" by 6" hole) and cracked the side of the deck on the inside, as well. 

I'm interested in tips for repair, including materials.  My fiberglass experience is limited to repairing smaller 1 inch holes or screw holes or small cracks with Marine-Tex and the West Systems repair kit. I'll plan to just grind out and fill the cracks inside the boat with Marine-Tex since it is white inside and Marine-Tex white basically matches. 

For the outer hole, my plan is to jigsaw out the hole to get to clean fiberglass, taper grind out about 4-5 inches around it, and use polyester resin and 1708 or something along those lines.  I'm planning to use polyester since I otherwise have concerns about gelcoat sticking to epoxy, and I'd like this to look decent with gelcoat when I'm done since it's in such a visible location.

I can reach the back of it well enough to put a backer on it for the repair, but I don't have enough access to lay glass behind it.  Will this work?

[RickK]

The good - it's not structural in that area. The bad - gonna be tough to match the gelcoat. Shouldn't be too hard to repair this.
It will take grinding/feathering out the edges for a good scarf joint may end up going out a 1 ft radius or more to get to undisturbed glass. Then add some kind of backing to support the glass you'll be adding and start adding smaller to larger round pieces of cloth. Think of lining a shallow dish - you have to build it up slowly. I think the woven roven (large weave cloth) is the layer closest to the inside of the boat, in other words, the last layer that was applied.

[Ulysses485]

Sorry to hear about the mishap. That’s a huge bummer but glad you made it back.

Hmm, what does it look like on the inside. I think it’s definitely a repair that can be done. I don’t know much about this model but assuming it has the typical liner you need access to the raw glass layup.  I would do the following
1. cut an “access panel” to work in the liner
2. Cut back all the delaminated bad glass of the damaged area reviewing thru access hole.
3. Bevel the glass from the inside outwards.
4. Use Waxed MDF on the outer hull side and build glass towards the inside (use polyester resin so you can go back with matched Gelcoat (bring or mail sample to Fiberglass Coatings in St. Pete, Fl.))
5. I would build pretty thick and run over the sides of the existing glass when flush.
6. Remove waxed panel, grind down to accept Gelcoat /polyester putty as needed.

Hope that helps.

Ulysses

[chadstew]

Thanks, guys.  The wall of the deck liner underneath the gunnel is directly behind it.  This has a good 4-5 inch crack in it, as well, right at where the wall and deck meet.  The interior crack didn't appear until I walked near it a bit (or I didn't notice it for a while--my heart rate was up pretty good because the impact felt very hard and I was about 30 miles offshore). 

I can contort my arm around and just barely reach it from the back, so if I need to do anything on the back except place a backer, I'll have to cut an access hole, but I've already got to do repairs on the interior crack, so I guess it's not the end of the world.

I'm most worried about matching the gelcoat.  I kind of think there is not a chance.  The boat is 20 years old and different parts of the hull are different colors due to variable fading.  I think I'm just going to try white gelcoat and add pigment it to match as close as possible.

[Tampa Bay Mike]

Yikes, glad you got back safe. I say cutting an access and working from from inside is the best bet, especially since you'll already be doing glass work to fix the crack

[Mwar410]

I got pretty good at matching gelcoat on older boats. White gelcoat with a drop or 2 of brown pigment usually gets you real close to that stained gelcoat color. Shoot it with a PreVail sprayer and you can easily tint as needed.