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I have a 63 seacoaster and after review I found a few spots of the hull at the stern, near the keel that have delaminated. 1”-2” out from the keel but only the first layer. I would guess it to be an 1/8th inch thick. I have been advised to remove this layer and use Smiths Fill-it epoxy filler to fill in the space. The wood underneath is solid through to the inside of the boat. What are your thoughts? How thick is the plywood hull on these boats? Thank You for your expertise!
Ron

Ron - surface repairs like this can be made, The plywood on these boats tend to be about 7/16" thick. I would clean up, sand to bare wood, the area and soak in a penetrating epoxy, then fill with a good marine filler - Formula 27( West Marine now sells this under their name) , Smiths or a high quality epoxy with filler added. Sand and then seal with an epoxy again. These systems are usually very strong and will withstand a lot of abuse. This is no repair if substrate is bad throughout, but is an excelent way to fair surface and seal.
Watch repaired area closely after repair

Thanks for the reassurance. I spoke with Smiths who assured me that their "Fill-it epoxy" would work great for this application as long as the substrate material was solid. This seems to be the case with my hull. I removed this 1/8th layer in a small area and found the underlying material to be solid. All I did to test the area was to poke at it with a screwdriver. The remaining wood was solid. I will strip the loose material soak in some CPES and fill-it in. I am assuming that this fill it epoxy will be of a cosistancy taht I can apply it while under the boat. If you have any suggestions on applicaiton I would be willing to give them a try. I am planning on using a 4 mil plastic to cover and smooth out the material. Let dry, sand, coat with CPES and paint. That should do it. Thanks again!

I do not understand the 4 mil plastic step in your process. What's that about? To keep the filler from sagging?

Andreas

I have been using Formula 27 for repairs of this type for several years. West Marine sells it under their name as Marine surfacing putty. This product is very much like auto Bondo, you mix a small ball of putty like material with a small line of acitvator from a tube. mix together and apply, it sets up in several minutes and is easy to sand when set, this is a very important part of using this material. It sets up very fast so don't mix a lot at one time, I use a plastic applicator like for Bondo. Most good epoxys are very hard when set and hard to sand. You can use this material, let set for 10- 15 min sand easily and apply again, you can build up layers if needed. I have used it on under water surface and have never seen any problems. Although it sets to a very hard surface finally I still seal over with a hard epoxy for final finish before paint.
Good luck

Ron.. I highly recommend Fill-it, for a number of reasons.... It is said to be cellulose based... It is hard, yet a little flexible. It sands easily, it does not harden quickly like an auto body filler, so you have good working time. (seems like maybe 45 Min)

I would recommend using CPES like you mentioned.... wait four or five days and repeat the heavy application.... then wait again 4-5 days.... Finally, it is probably overkill, but I would brush a light pass of CPES on 24hrs prior to the fill-it.

I recommend using the 4 mil poly... You can smooth it (Fill-it)somewhat with an auto body spreader.. those little three inch plastic deals.... Then put your poly over it... Rathern than using the spreader OVER the poly, you can do a lot of smoothing with your hands and fingers, or better yet, take a thin sheet of something that will roughly conform to your hull shape, and press it against the hull to squish it flat ....

The next day, the poly will pull away VERY easily, and you will be amazed at how hard and smooth the surface is... However, ANY wrinkle at all in the poly, like the folds, will transfer through, so cut out a blemish free section and make sure you apply it flat..

It may be double overkill, but after sanding, you can put a light coat of CPES 24hrs prior to painting your hull.... I used four coats of Smiths High Build Epoxy Primer, which is a Moisture barrier coat.... Then I coated with 2-3 coats of Kirbys semi gloss....

Good Luck

Thank you everyone for you comments. I am much more comfortable with the repair and feel that I am doing the right thing.
I will keep you posted.
Thanks, Ron

Ron: Just another option I used. I had a rather large area of delamination on the inside of the hull and a few on the outside. The outside areas were primarily damaged areas but on both sides I used a router with a bit set deep enough to remove the delaminated or damaged material. Then using a pattern template collar on the base of my router I routed out an area defined by my pattern. I then routed out a plug off another piece of plywood after removing the collar. I then had a perfect fitting plug which I glued in the pocket. Upon sanding to the proper level I had a perfect plug of wood fitting the hole I had routed. With a small amount of epoxy fillers I finished the surface perfectly level. Using a lot of epoxy fillers can create disimiliar materials which respond to moisture differently. After a period of absorption your epoxy filled spots can become visible on glossy surfaces. At least I know my screw holes have that I filled with epoxy as well as those filled by Famowood. I can send you photos if you would like. The largest plug I used on the inside was approximately 10 X 12 inches. On some areas of delamination on the aft strakes I simply doubled up the laminations by gluing pieces over the strakes and shaping to fit under the frames. Of course I used either Marine Grade of Aircraft Grade Plywood. Rod S

Rod,
Your repair technic makes sense and sounds relatively easy to do. I would really like to see any pictures you have of this repair.
Thanks for your comments and I look forward to your emails.
Please send to rgreene@westherr.com
Ron