hull corner repair

[Guest]

looking for a way to fix the corners on a DSII...is there a one piece system that will fit over the corner...my sloppy fiberglass patches don't seem to hold up...

david (levylaw-at-juno.com)

[Roger]

Corners are particularly difficult with weave and fg for the simple reason that the epoxy fills the strand and makes it want to go straight (I think it is called linear tension). The trick is to cut a four inch wide strip of cloth on the bias (so that the threads run diagonally). This way, when the strip is applied so that there is about 2" of wrap around, the surface tension on both flat surfaces is greater that the linear tension of the saturated strands, which now go around the corner on a diagonal and therefore at more than a 90 degree angle. You may still have to baby the patch along until it kicks and stray strands stay down. I have used this method to do the stem of a canoe which is a very sharp angle and a radius of about 0.75 inches. This bias strip works well for that application so I suspect it should work for a corner on your boat. (I was using WEST system 105/207 on a cedarstrip canoe). I assume it is a transom corner that you are repairing? You will of course have to give it a total of two or three coats. The first to saturate, the second to fill the weave, and the final to feather the repair to the existing hull and color. I have used latex gloves and dipped my finger into the pot of goo and smoothed out stray strands if/when they pop up. You can also use your finger to smooth out any wrinkles. Good luck and let us know how the repair goes.