Glass work-gctid378931

[Guest]

On my 87 2160 it had a head in the cutty that I removed. Now I have 2 thru hall that I want to reglass. Can I do this myself or take it to a repair shop? ( I have never reglass anything ) how much work is it to do and how hard of a job is it? I'm not concernd about matching. Thanks, Mike.

[Guest]

Pretty simple for something that small. You should google "fiberglass repair" and you'll find some good step by step instructions. Basically you will apply a patch from the inside which is larger than the hole, and allow that to set. I would make this patch from fiberglass mat that is thoroughly soaked with resin. It will be stiff enough to stand on its own for a small hole.

Once set, make a small filler circle from either mat or cloth, soak it with resin, and apply. You may need to use blue tape to hold it in place. Once filled, you can just put gelcoat repair on the outside to make it match if you choose.

[Guest]

Since you're not concerned about matching the gelcoat colour, it's an easy job. Especially since you can get to the inside.

You'll need to grind back from the hole, thinning the existing layup less as you move away. It will require you to lay in a number of pieces of 'glass cloth and mat, in a specific order. Go to You Tube for some good How To videos and a general sense of what your doing.

I suggest a good quality epoxy rather than polyester resin. The epoxy will bond to the existing fibreglass much better than polyester will. My preference is West System. Check out West System's website. It has numerous guides that cover in detail the repair you're facing.

[boatworkfl]

There is a gel coat issue with epoxy, vinyl ester resin or iso polyester resin can be gel coated.

[Guest]

Would it be safe to just replace the plastic thru halls with brass ones and a shut off inside the cutty?

[Guest]

boatworkfl wrote:
There is a gel coat issue with epoxy, vinyl ester resin or iso polyester resin can be gel coated.

West System epoxy can be gelcoated. Here's a formal https://"http://www.westsystem.com/s.../> test report. I've applied gelcoat over West dozens of times, all without problems.

[Guest]

Mclark wrote:
Would it be safe to just replace the plastic thru halls with brass ones and a shut off inside the cutty?

Definitely. That would work fine too.

[Guest]

If I go with the through hall am I going to have to run a short hose to the shut off velve or can I get a threaded through hall and screw it to a ball velve shut off?