using bondo w/ west system

[illMATTic]

well just after getting geared up for some test runs for that 80 mark i noticed some water dripping from under my boat. i hadnt been in the water for a week so i was a bit nervous. upon inspection i noticed some small cracks right on the edge of the pad. well of course it has to be fixed before i can run 80.

these cracks are not through the hull. on either side of the pad on the edge there are small pockets that runn the length of the boat. the gel must have worn over the 28 years of pulling it up to the beach. i have pulled all the loose glass and gel and dried it fully.

can i use bondo to fill these minor voids and then brush a couple layers of west system over to seal it? there is nothing structurally wrong here just using bondo as a filler. we are only talking a 1/4" thick at the most.

[Kary]

Bondo will flexes too much and is not as strong(besides, it absorbs water). I tried repairing my Hydrostream this way and it kept blowing out. I had to use filler (1/32 chop or spheres) in my west system and then lay a couple coats of resin over it. It needs to be finished smooth so the water doesn't grab an edge and peel it out. The filler will give the resin coat something to bond to better. I ran my Valero up to 90 after that and it still held up