fibreglass repair

[Steve Kerswell]

Bloody wind knocked my bonnet shut and has caused stress cracks. I have always had a misalignment issue, I have now done that and now have to repair this long thin crack, hopefully without messing the paint job up to much. Have just ran a slitting disc along the crack, it appears to be just the gelcoat and paint, Any tips in what to use and way forward? I'm not good with body work, cant weld it and hit it with the big grinder :-) Anyway, do I open the crack width ways so that it has a bevel to fill and what do I use? filler, resin, gelcoat repair stuff? plus any tips on keeping it neat?

[Steve Kerswell]

O.K. all sorted, persuaded my nephew To help, he repairs moulds for a big boat builder, cost me lunch :-))

[Paul Sheridan]

Difficult to do a proper repair with out damaging the paint too much. Use a thin disc in a dremel or some such  to chase out the crack down to the level of the matt. Then use a fine paint brush to apply acetone to dissolve some of the resin in the crack then fill with either gel coat or a decent body filler.

The reason for the thin disc is that if you open the crack up too much, it is very difficult to rub the repair down to match the level of the gel coat either side of the repair. 

[Steve Kerswell]

All filled and looking good, he used some home made stuff from glass strands and stretchy resin, whatever that is! Next bit is what grade do I use to rub it down between coats. He has applied a high build primer yachty thing and told me to stay off it for a couple of hours, then 180 it first. Seems a bit coarse.

[Brian (up north) Morris]

any pics steve ???

[Steve Kerswell]

No pics Brian, got to involved in trying to put it right :-)  However pleased to say things are looking good, just gave it a rub with 180 and sprayed on some blue, it seems to be bleeding through a bit at the edges, so better wait until the morning for a further look, got a club photo shoot in 2 weeks hope to be there, right slap bang in the middle, with my shades on, they're blue as well :-))

[Brian (up north) Morris]

ha ha i know that feeling. =getting  too involved. sunny here time to do some more work on the melos... :-)

[Steve Kerswell]

Massive storm about to hit down here, can hardly stand up ! dry at present, Hope the Northern crew are OK in Wales?

[Adrian Southgate]

Cheers Steve. Sue and I are home but I think the others may take a little longer to land. Very windy in Blackrod right now but its been another blinding weekend away after a damp start. I even managed to forget I was driving a mondeo on a couple of occasions and 'gave chase', successfully I might add...

[Brian (up north) Morris]

why you driving a mondeo....? how many duttons have you got.....:-)

[James Doulton]

The correct question is "how many complete Duttons have you got?".

[Brian (up north) Morris]

oh i see the dutton money pit again......:-)

[Adrian Southgate]

Because I was careless with a high powered air wrench...