Sailboat renovation

Continuing with the plastic repairs

May 22, 2019 /

On Saturday the sun was shining and we were finally able to continue with the plastic repairs. As mentioned earlier, we had removed the window we had in the cockpit since it was leaking a lot (read more about it HERE). Now it was time to seal and reinforce this area with fiberglass and polyester.

We started with the plastic repair late summer last year, if you want to read more about our previous plastic work, check the tag Plastic repair.

We have chosen to use polyester for the plastic repairs in the cockpit, the reasons why we choose polyester over epoxy are:

  • The price, polyester is cheaper than epoxy
  • It is not possible to paint with polyester topcoat on top of epoxy
  • The old plastic in the cockpit is polyester
The old window sealed with wood. Before starting with the plastic we sanded the area around the hole.
Adding the first layer of polyester.
And after we had added enough polyester we added the first piece of fiberglass.
Then more polyester and using the brush to remove the air bubbles.
Next layer of fiberglass. In total we needed seven layers of fiberglass to build up this area.
Final plastic added and left to dry and then the real hard work begins…
Hard, hard work sanding the plastic in the cockpit.
Well needed coffee break 🙂
Then it is time for putty (polyester mixed with talc) everywhere we find irregularities.
Putty, putty, putty.

The following days has been all about adding putty, sanding, adding putty, sanding and we will continue doing this until we have even surfaces in the cockpit.

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