- Cut for repair
As I said recently, there is no hurry getting the boat into the water. The water is cold and all the Spring projects shout for attention. Still, I have a set of pre launch projects for the boat. The first is hull repair. The trailer rebuild last Summer was about 4″ too narrow and the guide posts crushed the bottom of the outer hulls (its a trimaran).
A few days ago I started by cutting out the damaged bottom plywood about 6″ up and covering the span between bulkheads (about 24″). I had known the hull cover is thin but It was surprising to actually see that the sheathing is 3/8″ plywood with glass only on the outside (but Epoxy coating over everything both inside and out). This boat would not do for the Arctic North since the ice would probably puncture it quickly. Still, in more temperate waters it has lasted 16 years.
Repair of plywood/epoxy/glass hulls is much simpler than fiberglass-only hulls. Having cut away enough of the damaged hull to reach side-to-side and lap over the bulkheads, I will replace the V-shaped frame piece on the bottom edge, and Epoxy on some plywood strips on the inside tops of the cutout area to support the top edge. With support now on all edges of the cutout and the Epoxy having set, I will Epoxy the panels (pre-coated on the inside) against the supports and use a few (drywall) screws to hold hold them in place. Once the Epoxy has set, pull the screws, do a bit of smoothing with an angle grinder, and I can Epoxy a fiber-glass layer on over the raw wood. I do want to add a drain plug on each side in case water gets into the hulls in the Winter (somehow the snow plies up on deck and runs up over the lip of the access hatches in the Spring thaw). The final steps are to smooth the glass/epoxy and paint the outside. Since the damaged area is below the water line, it will be bottom paint. Since the repair will be under water, aesthetics are not very important and a perfectly smooth surface is irrelevant. I might add another coat of Epoxy on the inside for good measure since the repair areas are accessible through the hatches. The entire process will take a couple days due to the set times but is not actually much working time. It would have been impossible in the Winter since the set times would have been much longer.
Did I mention another delay may be a bird having already nested and laid eggs in the radar reflector on the top of the (presently horizontal) mast? Oh well, it will give me time to really get the boat in prime condition.