[FishFinder]

There is an approx. 3" gouge in the bow of my boat (picture attached), it's about 1/4" deep. I tapped the hull around this gouge, everything seems solid. Yard wants $450 to fix, I'd like to do it myself, but haven't done this before. How would you fix this gouge? Any product recommendations (have already been told West Systems epoxy filler is good??) Maybe you know of a good tutorial on the web to help me? Sorry this is the best picture I have now.

Thanks.

 

[FishFinder]

honestly 450 is not bag unless they are just going to fill it. if they are going to grind it out and build it back up, then it miight be worth having them do it.

The yard was going to: "Grind back to clean glass. Fill with West System Epoxy. Fair. Colormatch gelcoat." 4 hours quoted. So looks to me like they were just going to fill?

The fiberglass is pretty thick up there but I don't know exactly how thick unfortunately.

The Marine-tex option, this sounds easier and if I understand how this works, I wouldn't have to grind out as far. Is there some reason marine-tex would be less desirable here versus doing the big grind out/build up?

 

[FishFinder]

Thanks guys, great info I learned a lot today. I think I'm going to go with the filling option this time, probably take Dog's suggestion for Marine-Tex. My slip neighbor (former fiberglass boatbuilder) looked at the damage back in October and he said this was more of a cosmetic issue than structural, so I'm not worried about strength too much here. Although it sounds like Marine-Tex will add some strength to the repair ...

I also want to minimize the amount of grinding because my amateur attempts to match gelcoat probably won't hide the repair very well

 

[FishFinder]

Do it your self and you are likely to have a bright white spot on your bow for the rest of your ownership. If you are Ok with that, go for it, this would seem to be a cosmetic repair.

I'm OK with that, I know my gelcoat job probably won't match. I'll save the money for when I hit something bigger ...