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strake repair help needed

Eaglenva

Eaglenva

Member
how do i repair this damage so that i will not just break off if i bump something in the future. i dont want to spend all this time and effort just to have it break off the first time i bump the trailer or beach it.

do i use paste bondo, fiberglass bondo, or just a wad of glass and shape to match the strake?

also, do i need to remove the original bondo that is in the strake to get deeper bonding? such as drill some out of the remaining strake area like filling a tooth cavity so there is something to hold it in place?

http://www.wallysprecisioninc.com/images/_webmaster/bhullstrake.JPG

http://www.wallysprecisioninc.com/images/_webmaster/bhullbchdmg.JPG

this is on my restoration mx16.

Thanks everyone!
 
The factory uses what we call bonding putty th fill the strakes, & other things like where the transom comes together. It is a mixture on resin, milled fibers & cabosil or micro ballons. If you go to a professional auto paint store you can buy a reinforced marine bondo that will work just as good. Rough it up with some 36grit grinding wheels and go for it.
 
Epoxy resin and 404, then gel over or whatever topcoat you are using.
It won't break like 'bondo" and it is as tough as the gel where bondo will shatter and chip if struck again
 
hey kary,

do i need to sand past all the metal flakes or can i gel over them? I will probably go with a dark color on the bottom and a medium to light color on the top and side surfaces.
 
Take 80 or 120 on a DA over all the hull and you can gel over it. Make sure you get all the hull even around the chines. Fill in the scratches and gouges with the epoxy/404. Gel will fill small stuff and not show the sandscratches. Shoot the flake in your clear. Use a gun with at least a 2.3 nozzle and you will get good flake spread. You will use a ton of clear with the flake depending on how saturated you want the flake. You can cheat by using flake and then tinting the clear to go over the flake the same color as your flake. Use Duratec in your gelcoat and you will only have to wetsand with 1000 or 600 if it's really rough, then buff with red compund and a wool pad. Finish with a foam pad, white super polishing compound, then wax and enjoy.

If you flake, spray the flake/clear coat, then one coat of clear over the flake coat (that will cover it but 2 coats of clear is perfect) I have 9 coats of gel on my Vector and 6 coats on the MX15's
 
The repairs for those should start from the inside if the boat, just filling those will not make that a safe repair they are well through the hull there is zero strength in those spots right now and there will be zero there if you just fill them. You need to route out the strake from inside and do a proper layup inside the hull then you can refill the inside and fair in the outside then put whatever topcoat you plan on using.Remember this is not your 35mph go to the marina boat it will take some beating when you ger her finished.
 
I wasn't aware that the strake damage was all the way through.
I filled in some nicks and gouges on my Center steer MX15 with west and 404 and sharpened the strakes. It does 70+ and it survives fine. I even experimented quite a bit with different hammers to see how durable it was. it's better than using "bondo" which I know a LOT of "boat restorers" use bondo, including the numnuts that do our repairs at the Marina. With 4 coats of gel over it, I don't think it's gonna even come close to delaminatin. Maybe I am wrong here. My MX has more than 4 and my Vector has 9 coats. Probably slows it down a bit, but the MX15 still weighs 125lbs less than the factory hull
 
Eaglenva said:
hey kary,

do i need to sand past all the metal flakes or can i gel over them? I will probably go with a dark color on the bottom and a medium to light color on the top and side surfaces.
Click to expand...

You will need a solid color base to cover all that up, but you can shoot over the flake, yes. If you have cracks or gouges that extend through the hull, Blizz is right about repairing from the inside first, then working the outside. Otherwise it will open up and maybe hurt someone. This latest MX I am doing had a sawblade cut in the hull bottom which soaked the core, so it got a new floor, transom, and core-chain reaction. The guy I got it from is a friend and wanted me to put the damn thing on the water and go boating without doing anything to it.....nice friend....LOL
 
From what I can see they just look scuffed and chipped. they dont look like they are through the hull...maybe I missed something?

Obviously if they are damaged that bad you would need to re-do them from the inside but judging by the pics, I doubt thats the case...
 
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