Hello all, finally time to start riding again this season as I’m prepping my ski to go out for the first run this year I am looking over it after the winter to make sure all is well and I notice a crack on the lower section of the hull on the side near the back. I have dremeled the crack to see and it definitely goes all the way through, now I have it as a V channel. I’m going to drill both ends so it can go anywhere just want to see what my best course of action is to glass this any help is appreciated and I will be attaching 2 pics of the crack. I have some S glass Mat as well as 1708biax at home ready to go. Any help it appreciated thanks!
Small crack in hull, need help on best way to repair??
- Thread starter Afed24
- Start date
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
Grind it down and use some cabosil to fill the holes then reinforce with glass. I'd recommend not using biaxial on this repair as it's too thick and will use up soo much resin. 3-4 layers of 8oz s glass will be sufficient
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great I have plenty of 8oz S glass at home and Cabosil. How many layers of s glass would you say Is sufficient? And should I let the Cabosil mix dry before laying glass on it? Thanks in advance! @fastgtfairlane
- Location
- California
You are never going to get a nice smooth surface by repairing it from the outside as all those layers of glass are going to leave a big bump. You would have to really grind down the existing glass to make a divot to fill back in with layers of glass so the finished repair is the same level as the surrounding hull.
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
Obviously repairing it from the inside would be preferred but as long as you taper the ends of the crack and have smooth surface beneath, it will hold up fine. 4-6 layers if tapered out enough wont have a big enough bulge that you couldnt fair out. Taper the edges down 3-4 inches past the crack so you can put multiple layers down to build it back up to minimize a high area. Theres actually a pretty good video on YouTube by "boatworks today" on repairing fiberglass cracks. The guy explains a lot. I learned some good tips from him and I've been doing glass work as a hobby on skis for almost 10 years
Just for reference,l spoke to a guy that has been repairing boats for a number of years.He said he likes to drill not only the ends of the crack,but every inch drill a hole all the way around the cracked area.Makes sense to me.The thickened epoxy going thru the holes forms a bond from both sides with the glass mat on the inside and outside.
Alright just took care of it, can’t wait to see how it hardens but came out great from how it all layed up and went on. Should be super strong I got plenty of distance covered around it. Thanks for the help all.
Attachments
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
Looks like you got it