Refurbishing 12 foot fishing boat

Refurbishing 12 foot fishing boat

A good friend acquired a rather beat up fibreglass 12 foot fishing boat. It has a nice hull shape wih three keels and a nice site seating arrangement in the transom. This boat had spent a number of years basically abandoned to the elements and needed a number of repairs to be usable. We decided the boat was worth the trouble to repair and could still be a great boat.

From a distance the boat does not look too bad at all

Four main trouble areas

Initial inspection revealed four main trouble areas with the hull and two seats that were falling apart literally at the seams. We decided to fix the hull properly and then patch the seats to make the boat usable. The hull had a hole punched through approx 3 inches by 1 inch on the starbord keel forward from an impact. In addition there were abrasion holes through the hull on the middle keel forward and at aft end as well as on the starbord keel at aft end. The aft end of port keel was abraded badly but there was no hole.

Stbd Keel forward hole with initial interior patch

Stbd keel forward hole patched

The hole on the forward end of the starbord keel was the most serious. This was a large three inch long by one inch wide hole completely through the hull where the boat had impacted. The hole was beneath the forward seat of the boat. To access from the inside of the boat an 8 inch access had to be cut in the top of the forward seat and flotation removed. Once this was done two overlapping layers of 6 oz cloth were laid from the inside to make something to build on from the outside. The material chosen for this and the entire project was polyester resin rather than epoxy based on economics, curing times and the large areas involved.

With the inside patch cured the boat was flipped, the area around the hole ground down. The void was initially filled with polyfair polyester resin and then three increasing size patches of biaxial cloth wetted with polyester resin. As seen in the picture above the initial repair was now nearly complete.

Aft stbd and center keels after grinding. Note the holes through the hull.

The aft of port, stbd and center keel were ground to prepare for layering cloth. Also the foward hole on the center keel the same. During grinding the extent of the damage was visible with the holes completely worn through the hull in three of the four areas. After grinding three layers of boaxial cloth wetted with polyester resin was applied to the outside and two layers of 6 oz cloth to the inside for each of these holes.

Center keel aft

Center keel forward

Stbd Keel aft

All three keels sanded and a layer of cloth applied

To protect the keels from abrasion in the future we decided to glass the entire length of all three keels. This required removing surface paint and primer on all three keels by grinding down to the gelcoat (messy). In the above picture you can see the forward starbord hole repair after sanding and also if you look closely the center keel hole. Note that in this picture there are two layers of biaxial cloth plus one of 6 oz cloth on center keel and a layer of biaxial cloth plus a layer of 6 oz cloth on each outer keel. The fairing process has also begun on the center keel.

View of repairs from aft

Center keel final fairing, outer keels with gelcoat

Port Keel aft with gelcoat prior to sanding

With the protective layers of cloth on the keels the next step after sanding was to roll on two layers of gelcoat sanding between layers. Since the boat is to be painted and the keels subjected to abrasion we decided to gelcoat the keels for some added tougness and a close colour match to the paint. That was the plan anyway.

An up close look after the gelcoat was applied shows that it is not very smooth and requires a good sanding to make the boat ready for painting. Several applications of fairing compound followed by sanding was applied to the keels and to any minor nicks along the hull.

Hull sanded ready for primer

Hull painted with primer

Above and below - after painting

With the repairs complete and the keels protected we were ready to refinish the hull. We selected Interlux Brightsides Hatteras Off-White for the finish and applied this over Interlux Pre-Kote.

The first step was to sand off any loose paint and sand the entire surface to make ready for primer. Once the dust was cleaned up the surface was wiped down with Interlux 202 and allowed to dry. Finally an initial coat of Pre-Kote was rolled on using a foam roller. After drying it was apparent that some more fairing was needed in a couple of places. This is far too similar to working with drywall! Some touch up, some more sanding, a bit more Pre-Kote and then hand sanding the entire surface with 220 grit and we were ready for the final coats. The surface was wiped down with Interlux 333 and then rolled and tipped with an initial coat of Brightside Hatteras Off-White. The next day a second coat was applied.

Seat Repair

With the hull repair complete it was time to flip the boat and concentrate on repairing the seat damage as well as the access hole that was cut to address the forward starbord keel hole. The seats were constructed with a thin layer of fibreglass laminated to plywood and then the interior space filled with styrofoam flotation. The plywood had deteriorated over time resulting in a split on rear stbd seat and forward edge of middle seat as well as overall lack of strength. We decided to simply fix the split parts and strengthen with layers of biaxial and 6 oz cloth.

Boat on homemade dolly ready for seat repair project

The first step was to build a dolly/cradle for the boat. Since the grinding was to be done outside and the glass work inside something was needed to allow the boat to easily be moved in and out of the building. Once that was done it was time to address the three repair areas. In the above picture the three areas are apparent. The forward seat has had the access hole cover epoxied back in place from below and also screwed to the backing material (we used Coosa composite for this). The forward seat has a large surface area and is bouncy, it will require several layers of cloth. The middle seat has split along the top forward edge for a distance of approximately 22 inches. The aft stbd seat has split along the inside top edge and also the vertical corner.

Forward seat with biax cloth and mat applied. Mid seat with initial glass

In addition to repairing the access hole the forward seat also required strength and had a dip in the surface to the aft of that seat. Initially a layer of mat followed by a layer of biaxial cloth was applied over the access hole. This was followed by two more layers of mat and a layer of biaxial cloth extending from the forward portion of the seat and then down the back of the seat toward the hull.

The middle seat had its own challenges. The split on forward edge of seat had it bowed outward toward the bow and also the forward vertical side of the seat was very thin and not strong. A 24 inch by 2 inch by 3/4 inch thick section of Coosa was epoxied to the inside of the forward edge of the seat along the top and clamped in place to cure for 24 hours. Beneath that another section of Coosa was epoxied between the hull and bottom edge of the 24 inch Coosa piece.

Once the epoxy on middle seat had cured the front of the seat was clamped to bring it back in line with the seat top. Then two 6 inch wide strips of biaxial cloth were wetted with polyester resin to hold this in place permanently.

Initial repair as seen from aft and from above

With the initial work on the front and middle seat underway it was time to address the stbd aft seat. To fix this the top and sides had to be initially pulled together. Using a large clamp extending from inside of seat to outer hull the sections were pulled together and an initial strip of cloth glassed in place to hold it. This was followed by a lengthy grinding process to remove paint from the affected areas and take down to the glass beneath.

Middle seat second layer biax

Stbd aft seat initial corner repair

With the initial work and grinding complete things began to get a bit easier. A six inch wide strip of biax was applied to the entire forward edge of the middle seat. Aft the gap was filled with polyfair and followed by a 7 inch wide strip of Biaxial cloth tabbed to hull at bottom and extending over the top of the seat. Next steps will be to strengthen the aft end of the aft seat and seal the top inside edge.

Front seat glasswork complete. Ready for fairing layers

The front seat still had a hollow toward starbord and back edge. Another two layers of matt was applied in that area followed by a final layer of 6 oz cloth over the entire area. In the photo above the deeper blue shades represent the areas with the most material. This is where the hollow was filled with multiple layers of cloth and matt. Once cured this will be sanded and a layer of West System epoxy thickened with West 407 sandable filler will be applied. We decided to go with epoxy for the fairing coats because of its superior bonding properties over polyester resin. The middle seat in the picture below also has a final layer of 6 oz cloth applied and it too is ready for fairing. In the picture below you can see a spot on the aft seat edge above the keel where the edge had to be built up with extra layers of matt and cloth.

Middle seat with final layers of cloth applied.

Aft seat clamped in place for initial layer of cloth

Back seat glasswork complete

The above pictures show the progression of the aft seat repair. Since the seat was split along the etire middle top edge it required clamping to align the seat edge and side. To hold the seat down in its proper vertical alignment a handy jug of transmission fluid was used. With the seat in place a strip of biax cloth was applied from forward corner to just forward of the clamp. Prior to wetting this cloth the gap was filled with polyfair. Aft of clamp a small piece of 6 oz cloth was used for initial tabbing of top of seat to transom. Once cured the section where the clamp had been was filled with polyfair and then covered with biax cloth and tabbed to the transom to the top and side. A second wider strip of biax was then placed over the entire top edge. After curing this repair will be ready for sanding and application of fairing layers. Note in the photo above the paint peeling off the seat where it meets the transom below the glassed areas. This is in fact peeling paint rather than broken fibreglass as it would seem from the photo.

Seat repairs nearly complete

The first coat of fairing compound on the front and middle seat

Initial sanding of fairing

After curing for 36 hours the sections were sanded (until the supply of sanding discs ran out). The forward seat needed only one small area of touch up with a second application of fairing. The aft seat the front corner was sanded and looked good. During the sanding of the middle seat a new crack on the forward top edge on the starbord side was discovered. This was just beyond the edge of the initial glass work. Since we have now switched to epoxy three layers of 6 oz cloth of increasing size were wetted with epoxy to patch this area. This will add a further 24 hours curing time (a downside of epoxy over polyester). It looks like this project is nearing completion!

Seat patching complete with primer coat

Aft view

Aft seat patched with primer