repairing/reinforcing grp floor

[andy hunter]

I put my knee through poor old Penny Plain's floor the other week. There's a crack which will be simple enough to repair, but I'm thinking about reinforcing the whole floor to be on the safe side. Would a couple of layers of glassmat epoxied in provide enough in the way of strength without creating problems with stiffness? As a repair method it appeals because it's pretty quick and once it's done it's done.

Any thoughts?

[pegasus]

Andy

When I bought Bertie a few years ago it leaked. Like you I looked for a solution to this problem. I acquired some lightweight nylon from Epoxy resins. However looking on their website it looks as if this has been superseded by Biaxial Cloth. Give them a call.

To look at what I did go to www.Simonsboats.moonfruit.com. There are photos etc on that site from work I have carried out on Bertie.

If you would like me to see if I have any samples PM me with your postal address and I i will look to see if I have any left in the garage.

A little tip. As Penny Plain is an old boat only epoxy one side of the timber and use tradition yacht varnish on the other side, The epoxy makes the timber very stiff and will otherwise crack and water will get underneath and epoxy is very difficult to remove. My nighbours have spent weeks cleaning dust off their cars as I have sanded a lot of epoxy off Bertie this spring!

Simon

[paultp]

Hi Andy,

I had a similar problem with 784 and after taking advice decided to put a second floor in the cockpit.

I cut out all the duff bits then epoxied the new floor in, then turned the boat over and replaced all the duff bits. The cockpit floor is now 9mm (original 5mm ply plus new 4mm ply) but I don't think I added a lot of extra weight as there was some cork stuff glued to the floor which weighed over 1.5 kg after I removed it. More detail is on [my blog].

It stiffened the boat up and saved me from having to burn it. It still has good boat speed for a 30 year old boat and when I point it in the right direction it competes well with many much newer boats.

Cheers
Paul

[andy hunter]

Thanks gents for your advice. I haven't really got time to do a proper job on it at the moment. I've filled and faired it today and epoxied a couple of sheets of glass tissue over the half of the cockpit the crack was in. I'll bring her home at the end of the season and do a more thorough job - the hull seems to be about 2mm thick at the point it cracked.

I'll probably sink next week.