Help with skeg repair

Posted by theheliumkid@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 10 comments

Hi,

I have my 23' boat glass over wood out for antifouling and discovered osmosis in the skeg. I've had to cut away 3 x 2.5 x 10 cm part of the skeg (leading edge at the bottom of the skeg). Which of thesewould work:

Just fill with epoxy?
3D print a replacement part and epoxy it in, with a sheet of fibreglass?
Cut a piece of wood to shape, epoxy it in with a sheet of fibreglass?

Thank you for your advice in anticipation

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LameBMX@reddit

I'd use the material you cut out. if it was wood, use wood. it it was layered glass, the glass (refer to another comment as you need surface area for a strong bond).

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theheliumkid@reddit (OP)

Could I ask a follow-up question? So I've replaced the missing bit of skeg with wood and have put two layers of fibreglass over that. Would you put more fibreglass on?

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LameBMX@reddit

wish you would have measured how thick the glass was first.

maybe those that do the work could chime in on a new post, or elsewhere here. since I don't do it often, I'd make samples of X layers that should be around the same thickness as original. then use the same number of layers as the sample that was closest to the thickness needed.

hol up

did you fair out to 12:1 (do your own research, I pulled 12:1 out of my horrible memory) for proper glass adhesion for the repair? unless it's just protective glass over wood, you should have a decent bump where it goes from new glass to faired glass and you could just fill till smooth.

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theheliumkid@reddit (OP)

Thanks, that makes sense

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saltwaterjournal@reddit

You want a nice big beveled edge where you connect the new fibreglass material with old. Could use wood or expanding foam to carve and achieve the right shape. The brush some wet epoxy over, and build your fibreglass layers over that.

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theheliumkid@reddit (OP)

Thank you! Bonus for the expanding foam suggestion!

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AnarZak@reddit

we have a "sharpened" bow over the real bow, which gets dinged quite often.

i've repaired it with: 1: carved surfboard foam, 2: expanding foam inside a plastic mask, 3: and most recently body filler,

all covered with glass cloth & resin, & finished with gel coat. as we see this as an ongoing maintenance issue, longevity is not a priority & the body filler is the easiest option by far

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theheliumkid@reddit (OP)

Thank you. Yes foam sounds quick, though a chunk of wood and an angle grinder wouldn't be far behind for me, I think. Does the foam hold up well to the pressure of waves breaking on it?

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AnarZak@reddit

in our case the foam is just the mould for the glass fibre skin, but it's structurally not important to us as the real bow is a bit further back.

if it fails it's not pretty, but it's of no structural consequence or watertightness issue.

for your case i think stainless screwing a timber block, grinding/planing/sanding it to shape & fibreglassing seems the most sensible

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AnarZak@reddit

we have a "sharpened" bow over the real bow, which gets dinged quite often.

i've repaired it with:
1: carved surfboard foam,
2: expanding foam inside a plastic mask,
3: and most recently body filler,

all covered with glass cloth & resin, & finished with gel coat. as we see this as an ongoing maintenance issue, longevity is not a priority & the body filler is the easiest option by far