How would you repair this ?

[eagletrawler]

I will be removing old damaged polyester glass. All rotted wood will be cut out and replaced .
I guess the main questions are weather to redo the glass with epoxy or to fair ,prime and paint the wood (no glass).What to do with the old polyester glass that appears to be in good shape ?
I have considered reglassing or CPES and kirby's or even a product like dex-o-tex or tufflex.

Here is a link to a few pictures :
www.msnusers.com/trawler/shoebox.msnw (http://www.msnusers.com/trawler/shoebox.msnw)
Thanks

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Eagle- I'd use epoxy and glass, and leave the good fiberglass in place. It will look great.

[paladin]

the bonding of epoxy is much, much better than polyester......and epoxy can actually "soften" or "loosen" the polyester glass...if you are gonna spend lotsa quality time removing most of it, why not do all and not have to do it again.....

[Mike Vogdes]

I would bite the bullet and remove all the old polyester and I'm certain you will find more bad plywood as well. The plywood under those teak decks are sometimes a problem too. When its time to put it all back together my choice would be good doug fir marine ply covered with 6oz cloth set in W.E.S.T. and Kirbys over that.

I had a 40' Marine Trader for years and got quite intimate with its inards. You should consider joining the MTOA, they are a nice group of trawler owners with a great quarterly newsletter that is chock full of remedies and tips for repairing your trawler.

BTW.. Now would be a good time to look real hard at your fuel tanks, they usually rot out on the tops due to deck leaks.

[TimothyB]

I think this is a harder question than it first appears, because you really haven't told us how far you are willing to go to do the repair. I'll tell you what I would do in your stead.

Strip off all the poly, because you really never know where rot will be hiding underneath all that poly. Heat does wonders to remove it, and there are chemicals that will help here as well.

Once all rotted wood is replaced with good quality ply/wood, then epoxy saturate the ply inside and out.

Then, epoxy/xynole over below the waterline, and coming up 1 foot above, plus xynole/epoxy the decks.

xynole/epoxy the topsides is optional; only the decks really would need it.

This boat doesn't require glass as a structural element, which is why I recommend the xynole, as it is, generally speaking, more abrasion resistant than most glass.

If you want to use the fabric as a structral element, then you would need to use glass.

Thats about it. Except for paint. smile.gif

I'm not a pro, but this method is one that has been recommended by pros. I'm just regurgitating it here for your viewing.

I also recommend that you get W. Trefethan's book 'Wooden Boat Renovation', available in the Woodenboat store. Then you'll have a lot more source material to make your decisions.

[Corso]

Usually epoxy and poly dont really like eachother this much, dont mix them you could have problems in the long run, fix poly with poly and epoxy with epoxy, your decision where its worth to get rid of all the glass or just patch the damaged one

[RodB]

West's little "Fiberglass Repair " book covers all of this and they definitely recommend epoxy and fibeglass cloth for a repair. especially since you will paint over all when done. The only reason to use polyester resin would be if you were going to re-gel-coat the area and "that" takes time and polishing and knowledge of the proper technique. If painting is the final layer than glassing with epoxy is the ony way to go and as above xynole is great if not for structural uses.

RB

[eagletrawler]

I was concerned about damage caused by pulling off the old poly that is still stuck but I suppose it needs to come off .It probably isnt stuck that well are I wouldnt be doing all this to begin with .
Mike : My decks (the ply) are in good shape for the time being .The teak needs some attention or that will probably change (missing bungs and in need of caulk ? )
I will take another look @ MTOA ,if I remember correctly it had been a while since their last news letter .
The tanks seam to be in good shape but they are covered in glass , I hope that is not bad news (the fact that they are covered) ? I have only found 1 small spot where the glass was pulling away slightly .
Timothy : I should have stated that the hull is glass only . I will do a search and learn more about xynole . I am rereading Jim Trefethen's book right now : )
Also the flybridge and all of its components (flybridge itself,seats, cabinet and control panel) did not have glass on them .Would epoxy only and no glass be suitable here ? Would red cedar be suitable for building the framework for the flybridge ,cabinet and control panel on the fly bridge ?
Thanks for your responses !
Scott

[Mike Vogdes]

If your tank are glassed its probably not good news, maybe you should have them preasure tested. As far as framing stock, I would go with doug fir, and maybe white oak where heavy loads are expected. My Marine Trader had a fair amount of teak framing stock in her construction. If your gonna go thru all the trouble of building a new bridge and all the ajoining modules, you would be wise to cover everything with glass cloth, These boats experience a fair amount of vibration and glass cloth in my opinion will make your finished job much more substantial. Some of this construction could easily be done stitch and glue fashion. Sam Devlins book explains this proceedure nicely and it to can be purchased from the wooden boat store.