Fiberglass Repair DIY
While waiting for my King Control repair I finally started working on some fiberglass damage. Driver's side wet bay door and the leading bottom portion of the rear fender had an unfortunate encounter with a large rock at a dump facility. Passenger side battery door and following bottom portion of the rear fender encountered a piece of rebar sticking up from a random parking bolster in a gravel area beside a state park dumpster.
I've been following Boatworkstoday and Fish Bump YouTube Channels as they have a lot of helpful information about fiberglass repairs. The passenger side fender was missing half of the lower bottom portion so I created a temporary cardboard form to fill the void and then used it to help me shape the fiberglass mat and resin. The driver side wet bay door bottom had been crushed by the rock. That was easier because it was possible to repair the backside and then grind out the front side to start laying up some mat and cloth. There were some holes in the fender as well.
I used a combination of mat, woven cloth, unwaxed resin, short strand Bondo, fairing compound, and unwaxed gelcoat applied with a roller. PVA applied with a brush was used to prepare the unwaxed resin and gelcoat for sanding. After I sanded, buffed, polished and waxed the panels it turned out to be a decent 10-footer. I did not try to color match the standard Total Boat gelcoat, rather I wet sanded the surrounding material and gave it the same treatment which brightened it up close to the new gelcoat. It would have been better to spray the gelcoat, but I only have a 5 gallon air compressor. I can see every flaw, but in truth the overall improvement to the general appearance of the coach in filling the holes and damaged panels is rather satisfying. I was often dancing with cold weather and the window of opportunity to work was only two or three hours at best on some days. Then we got a week of warm weather and could move a little faster.
I've got two other areas to repair, but wanted to "test" my nascent skills on the two unsightly areas first.
Topic: Fiberglass Repair DIY