TOPIC: bondo

Does bondo really work well for fixing spider cracks on old boats? Is it better to grind out cracked area and re-gel coat or should fiberglass resin be used? I have a 1958 glasscraft citation that has many spider cracks and some minor transom rot at the top.

Top of the morning to ya Monte!

I used a variety of materials when I did my Power Cat, from resin with matt, kitty hair (filler with fiberglass strands or pieces), and then finish work with NAPA's Micro Lite body fill. Depended on the depth and structural position. My boat was covered with these cracks, both hull and deck, many I'm sure resulting from a collision the boat once had with an immovable object. I would grind them down till I couldn't see an underlying white line that indicated the very bottom of the crack, and based on that depth and structural position, would figure out which product to start with. I didn't use much resin/matt, used quite a bit of kitty hair, and a lot of Micro Lite. You can get a handle on what I did visually here: www.powercatboat.com/Group/FA_14t/FA_14t01.html

Good luck!

Frank

thanks Frank! your boat looks great. obviously you put a lot of time into it. I hope I muster the dedication to do mine that well. I need to remove the top as well to repair the transom but have never really worked with fiberglass before. If there is minor rot in the transom do the rot repair products work well to strengthen and eliminate the rot or should new wood always be used? thanks Monte

Monte, the opinions for transom repair vary widely. Some folks can repair minor rot with injectable stuff, others clean out what they can and use Seacast (a pourable product), while others (like myself) use high quality marine plywood to replicate the transom and then glass it in. It's hard to make a recommendation not knowing exactly what you have to work with, and then everybody has a different opinion!

Fiberglass work isn't difficult, it's just messy. You need to protect your skin well, or you'll be itching for days. Again, there is a wide variety of opinion on how to do it and what to use, but I have had good luck with relatively inexpensive resin I get at NAPA (I think it's a Bondo product). I have bought most all my fiberglass stuff at NAPA. They have small and big packages of matt and cloth. Matt is structural, cloth is for finish mostly.

Coffee is ready (2nd pot), so I'm off to do some wet sanding. Good luck with the project, she's gonna be a great boat for you.

Frank

Good grief Frank, thats a lot of work! I was beginning to think I was the only anal boat restorer here.
Monte; I am using Epoxy resin which is non toxic and very user friendly. Much about the product can be gleanded from my posts here on Fiberglassics www.fiberglassics.com/glassic-forums/main-forum/restofish-continued
make sure to follow the link on the first post to archives and start there.

Have Fin.....