Comment

Comment by Mike Dearing on March 4, 2009 at 6:32pm

Ah, I see how the patch works from the other photo now.

Sure turned out nice, I'll bet nobody would ever know what happened to it unless you told them.

Comment by TJ Weiss on March 4, 2009 at 4:50pm

Hi Mike,
Try hard not to bash your boat in the canyon. :o)

Yes, if you look at the pictures you'll see that I put "backer boards" into the bow and wedged them into place. These were epoxied into their positions after I did some edge beveling, tweaking and fitting. They add a bit of strength and gave me something to attach to. They're a permanent installation now. My friend gave me a bunch of grief telling me that I was going to turn my drift boat into an ice breaker. Oh the fun of working on a boat - Nothing's straight or square and there's no place to put a clamp.
;o)

I cut out the damaged area trying my best to keep it straight and square. (Ha!) Then I cut a replacement piece and did a lot of sanding and fitting until it just fit into the square hole.

Then after getting all of the epoxy mixed and spread I started with a line of small brass screws in a line up the center of the replacement piece. While a friend pushed (very hard) against the replacement we worked out from the center line bending the board into place and fastening it with more brass screws. Of course I had to drill and countersink all of the holes prior to setting the screws. The small replacement piece didn't really want to bend much but in the end, we won!

:o)

Comment by Mike Dearing on March 4, 2009 at 4:40pm

TJ,
I know this is a question that may require a long answer but how exactly do you do this? Is there a piece on the inside larger then the patch? Or is it glassed in?

I just want to know in case I ever bash a hole in the side of my boat down in the Rogue canyon!

Mike