Deck repair

[mshelton]

I'm going to repair the deck of my Sith this week, it cracked due to a hit on the end of the bow due to a heavy hit on the hull. Cracked from seam to seam.

I plan on replacing the seam areas that are cracked and am wondering what a good patch would be for the deck. I have some 6oz S-glass weave and some twill weave carbon (kevlar unavailable due to the f$%#^g us military). I'm thinking of a layer of carbon with a layer of glass on top as a repair / re-enforcement area, probably 14 inches from the end of the boat to add some structural support to where the rocker turns up.

Is carbon covered by glass a good choice for this? Or will the carbon be too stiff and splinter instead of flex if I take another hit in the same area?

[PAC]

What are you looking for in terms of kevlar? Say would oh 8' feet of 3" wide cloth work for you? Let me know and PM me your address. I might have an end of an older (not old) roll of seam tape in the garage that can be shipped out.

Paul C.

[mshelton]

I've got some leftover seam tape that I'm rationing out for hull repairs and I should have enough to finish fixing my other busted boat, thanks for the offer though. Not being able to get it give me a subject to rant on so it's ok.

[Mike W.]

I haven't broken anything all the way across....yet But I have busted some boats. I've just used s-glass to fix 'em. If you use West System epoxy, it'll turn yellow in the sun. Add some pigment in the last layer to prevent that.

My Sith was delivered last night. Sure is light

[PAC]

Oh in that case.. rant on about the impact!

I have a buddy "over there" (2x) and his family (parents, wife and kids) are suffering. I know he isn't trilled about his location but is doing his "job" like the profession he is!

It's really tough to see the kids at little league games and such, knowing they are missing their dad, when everone else dad is there!

Here is to the professionals and hoping they all come home safe and sound!

Rail on stud! Oh and when are you and your pod heading this way for more "pork"! LOL

Paul C.

[Marc Evans]

MShelton:

SweetComposites shows that they have kevlar. If that does not work for you, try USComposites. Their URL is

http://www.shopmaninc.com/products.html.

Marc

[mshelton]

If those pricks had of spent 50% of the time, manpower and money from that cluster#$%^ over there on standardizing, making available and converting to an alternative fuel source (hydrogen, ethanol, bio-diesel, etc...) we would be in a he|| of better place not to mention saved a few lives and left the chinks to deal with the arabs.


Anyhow, any recomendations on the repair / re-enforcement job?

[PAC]

There are some good posts in the site's history (search function) and take a read of Boatbuilder's Manual edited by Charles Walbridgebook if you have a copy.
One site with it is...
http://www.eagerplastics.com/bookboatbuilder.htm
and / or the sweet site (good tips there too).
Other than the cloth what are you planning to use... west system? Slow of fast harder? Do you have a place to "cook it" or just letting it dry out room temp? Are you going to add color (pigment) to the mix. You can usually get the color from the local hardware store if your nice - getting a color match can be hard.
I'm sure some of the expert builders here will provide more insite and comments in 2 minutes than I could think up in an hour.
Good luck since that is one cool boat!

Mike - glad to hear you got yours! Had it out yet?

[mshelton]

Using West system, either the fast hardener or the 207 clear stuff, depends on how much I have left over from another repair.

I'm not baking it or anything fancy such as that, I do have some peel-ply which is about as high class as I get. I have the boat builders manual but it doesn't talk much about modern materials.

As for color, if I can find something to add to make it as ugly as possible, I'll do that. If not I'll just spray it with some black appliance epoxy.

[ezwater]

I'm assuming your deck is like mine, a foam sandwich. Hard to get inside the boat to patch the other face of the foam.

I think you could do a 2 or 3 layer patch using your carbon. Cut on the bias, so twice as many fibers cross the break. Be sure that the edges of the patches DO NOT go straight across the bow, or you will have strain demarcations that could lead to breaking later. The patches should probably be oval.

Again, the largest patch should go on first, then the next smaller, and finally the smallest, if you want to have three layers. You want the transition zones from patch to patch to be on the surface where you can sand them down. The carbon and epoxy should be easy to sand down.

You should end up with a patch probably strong enough to support the break. I would be more confident if you could patch at least part of the break on the inside of the deck. You can do this if you can reach the break from the cockpit, with the boat inverted and your head and shoulder inside.

[mshelton]

Thanks EZ, no dice on getting inside that thing unless I could hire a midget pigmy. I'll lay up 3 layers and call it a day on it.

[John Coraor]

I would recommend doing what EZ suggested, but with the S-glass instead of carbon. Carbon is great for adding stiffness, but can be very brittle when stressed. The kind of break you're describing is actually a compression fracture caused by the bow hull impacting and causing the deck to flex upward. S-glass should hold up better to compression than either carbon or kevlar.

John

[mshelton]

You know I was wondering about that John.

Seems like the hull on my boat gave or bent a little with the impact but the deck didn't. I know carbon is supposed to be lighter, and is definetely stiffer, than S glass but wouldn't it make sense to layup your deck with something with similar flex as your hull? Unless you are looking for ultra lightweight for racing.

[ezwater]

Actually, carbon will outperform S-glass in compression. Carbon is a bit weakish in tension. Kevlar is brilliant in tension, but inferior to both carbon and S-glass in compression.