Sunday, March 30, 2014

Boat Repairs

I am into sailing... it's a new passion, and interestingly has offered many opportunities for woodworking, more than I would have imagined :) So the new season is approaching slowly but surely as the frozen gives way to green and sunshine. (little known fact: the movie "Frozen" was filmed in central Minnesota)

So I'm now trying to start repairs on the fiberglass of my boat.  These are the pictures of the areas that need repairs:

First is the bow.  I'm sure this is mostly from poor attempts at putting my boat back on the trailer, which proved much more difficult than launching :)

This one is on the keel... again this was produced when trailering the boat at the end of the season and trying to hit the trailer.  I have already designed some trailer improvements to help guide the keel onto the trailer without banging it around so much.  I plan on adding them when the weather improves.

Finally, the keel fiberglass appears to be in a little rough shape but I'm not sure how much of this is cosmetic vs. damaging, i.e. will the fiberglass pick up water and soften or something?  I'm seeking help on this topic now so hopefully I will post the repairs as I complete them.