Delaminated Fiberglass on bow deck - 3988 1996-gctid375425

[Guest]

This is a friends boat that is showing some delamination of the fiberglass over the port side of the deck on the bow. Seems the best approach is to come in from the stateroom and fix the problem area from underneath. The area was small when they bought the boat (some time back) and grew a bit to about 3' by 3' area flexing about an inch with body weight. The boat stays in a boat house. Could poor bond and heat cause the delamination?

Another suggestions since the core is still in tack, perhaps injecting a glue through the fiberglass and reset the fiberglass to the core.

She lost her husband a while back and I am trying to help her out. She loves the boat and boating. Many good memories with her husband.

Anyone that has experienced this problem could you comment on the best approach and process you experienced as a fix.

Jim

[katrandue]

I had a 3'x3' area delamination just below the topside port hatch on my 3888 and used the West 2 part epoxy system to address it. I drilled four 1/4" holes in the affected area and injected the epoxy with large plastic syringes I purchased online. When you drill the holes make sure the core material coming up is not wet before you begin. Wet core material requires a different epoxy material. I attached my shop vac to the lowest hole to promote level coverage of the injected epoxy. After injecting the first 3 holes I removed the vacuum hose to inject the last hole. As soon as all material was injected I laid a piece of 3/4" plywood down and stacked 8" concrete blocks from home and any other weight I could find (anchors) to mesh the two areas together for 24 hours. I feel my efforts were pretty successful, it doesn't ping like a bowling ball but it does ping like a golf ball when struck with a screwdriver handle. And I don't feel the spongy "give" when I walk on it. I have a picture I will try to attach before submitting this. Hope this helps,Katrandue

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[Guest]

A friend repaired delaminated deck in an older sailboat by drilling several holes in the affected area, using heat and air to dry out the core as much as possible, and using a syringe in the holes to fill the void with epoxy. Essentially, the process involved injecting the epoxy until it came out one of the holes, plugging each one as it appeared, until all of the holes exhausted epoxy. This method worked very well. Simple enough to sand the holes after and apply gel coat or non skid.

[Guest]

i think that if Your friend has a problem about 3' x 3' then drilling a 1/4 " holes will be not enough.

i will cut out at least 1' x 1' and start to see an fix the problem by removing the core and replace with new one.in my opinion if 3' x 3' area is damaged could be larger and wet.core under laminate will never dry without expose to air.

that`s only my 2 cents

[Guest]

It is my understanding the area effected can be repaired from underneath, by taking down the liner. What is the process to get to the delaminated area?

[Alan_Teed]

aquaholic 4588 wrote:
It is my understanding the area effected can be repaired from underneath, by taking down the liner. What is the process to get to the delaminated area?

Assuming that you could get to it from underneath (which will also entail drilling through the gelcoat/glass interior to get to the core) it would seem to be significantly harder working on your back and trying to push the epoxy uphill, than the deck solution described earlier with gravity on your side.

Regards

Alan

Gig Harbor