Any advice on how to repair holes that I accidentally drilled thru the deck during delamination repair? Will bondo work?

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Mark

Prindle 16 and Laguna 18DS
Ripon, WI
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OK I did the same thing. First I was using West Systems I have no experience with bondo. You want to get a countersink bit looks like this
http://www.harborfreight.…ntersink-tool-68535.html


Use with a hand tool like the picture or on a variable speed drill but real easy. You just want to widen the top of your hole in so you have good access to fill in but you don't want to go all the way through it. however if you do , and I did you can still save it.

Once that is done. Mix up some epoxy and wet out the holes to fill with a small brush. Then thicken the epoxy to about peanut butter consistency and just putty it into the holes with your mixing stick. With Wests one batch(pump) of epoxy will take care of several holes. If your painting you want them to be a little higher than the surface so you can sand them fair. If you are gel coating then you may want them a little below the surface so you can fill in with gel coat. In my opinion it is easier to go higher and sand smooth.

I thickened mine with Wests colloidal silica can't remember the number. It makes for a pretty hard fill so takes a little more sanding but not to much. If your lazy with sanding you can use the high density filler (purple stuff) from Wests and it will sand a little easier.

You should be able to do this with other thickened polyester resin products but I have not used them. If you can work in the shade and then move to the sun and you want it to be done quick buy a tube of the solarez then you can apply shade then add sun for a few minutes and your done. I need to get some of this to try on some rudders.

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
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i think bondo absorbs water

best not to use it on a water sealing repair　

msedc1997

Any advice on how to repair holes that I accidentally drilled thru the deck during delamination repair? Will bondo work?

I don't understand the question. Drilling holes in the deck are part of delam repair, do you mean your drilled all the way through both layers of fiberglass so the resin just drained into the hull?

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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DamonLinkous

msedc1997

Any advice on how to repair holes that I accidentally drilled thru the deck during delamination repair? Will bondo work?

I don't understand the question. Drilling holes in the deck are part of delam repair, do you mean your drilled all the way through both layers of fiberglass so the resin just drained into the hull?

Yes I drilled all the way thru the hull.

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Mark

Prindle 16 and Laguna 18DS
Ripon, WI
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i'd love an answer to this question. i did the same thing. i think i fixed it with some thickened resin, but now i can't fix the original problem of the delam. Thoughts?

A couple of my holes seem to have worked, i actually heard the resin go into the foam and a little came out of another hole. Others very easily went all the way through and the resin just dumped into the hull.

I have been dealing with this due to my boat's current state (see my boat#2 thread in sig.) If you drill all the way through the hull you can fill the hole with a small amount of resin. Just make sure it is injected deep enough to seal the lower hole. After it dries, drill another hole right next to it. It will throw off your pattern of holes, but it you do it like I did, it wont matter because the resin will flow beneath the surface and fill around the sealed hole.

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Hobie cat 14 196?
Hobie cat 14 1976 Flamer
Coarsegold, CA
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sorry not much help to you now, but maybe to future soft-spot repairmen

ideally of course you don't try and drill 50? 3mm deep holes with a 40mm long drill, relying on "feel" to not go through the both skins, it just doesn't work like that

there is a tool specially made for the job and it's called a drill-stop

$3 for a set apparently

http://www.google.com/pro…Wr2JjRAg&ved=0CHgQ8wIwAA

or if that's too rich you can get the same effect by putting about 30?wraps of masking tape carefully around the drill, 3mm? from the tip



Edited by erice on Jun 28, 2012 - 04:07 AM.

You can also pick up shaft collars in fractional and metric sizes from most bearing suppliers. (My guess is that's what those drill stops are.)

Another tool that might be nice for this is a Dremel tool with a router base. Set the base so only 3mm of drill is protruding below the base, and you should be able to zap the holes out without any chance of a drill-through.

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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Quote

there is a tool specially made for the job and it's called a drill-stop

I used a drill stop on mine but at some point it slipped and I unknowingly plodded along popping holes through the hull. I think it is best to just tip through the surface just barely. Don't even try to go through the foam core. Then go back with the bit in your fingers and drill down through the foam.

I also tried the tape think and it was ok but again I suggest setting so you just barely break through the surface

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Dustin Finlinson • Magna, UT
Member: Utah Sailing Association
1982 Prindle 18
1986 Hobie 17
1982 Prindle 16
1980 Prindle 16(mostly)
1976 Prindle 16(mostly)
Check out "Prindle Sailors" on Facebook.
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got that t-shirt...ended up putting in course wood screws in the original holes and re-drilled with the drill stop and injected. let set up then took out screws and filled holes with west/silica mix. beer was involved...got ahead of myself and thought i could eyeball the drill depth...wrong. ended up working out because the deck was bad off and the pattern of screws gave nice shape and structure for the injection.

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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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I'm starting on this type of repair this weekend, wish me luck!

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- Shaw

1985 Prindle 16

Virginia Beach, VA
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Not sure if your finished with the drilling, if not I found an extremely sharp high quality bit worked much better for me. When I was using an older bit I punched all the way through the deck several times, but the sharper bit you just don't press at all, let the bit do the work, and go easy at it.

Or get a drill bit stop like mentioned before.

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Jim
New Orleans

'83 H18 SX mods 2013 -
'65 Lavey Craft 2005 -
'69 Cal 25 1997 - 2001
'80 P16 1980 - 1996
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One of the best drill stops is masking tape, go around the drill bit numerous times rarely if ever will the tape move.

i realize this thread is old but since it has already been revived. I would fill through drilled holes using playdoh or something similar i would push this into the and then drill out a bit of the doh and then put resin on top of the playdoh and tadah. Note i have not tried this just a thought i had.

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Nacra 5.7
Falcon Lake Manitoba
Canada
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HULLFLYER

One of the best drill stops is masking tape, go around the drill bit numerous times rarely if ever will the tape move.

+1

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Sheet In!
Bob
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Prindle 18-2 #244 "Wakizashi"
Prindle 16 #3690 "Pegasus" Sold (sigh)
AZ Multihull Fleet 42 member
(Way) Past Commodore of Prindle Fleet 14
Arizona, USA
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