Picked up an older HPX that needs a little love. I’m planning to fish it and update/fix things over time. The previous owner dropped the starting battery in the cockpit and punched the deck pretty good, pics attached. strong text
What am I looking at as far as a repair job here? I may opt to do more of an overhaul down the road but wondering how concerning this is for the time being?
May or may not be a “big” deal, but you’re going to have to bust out the grinder to get down to fresh glass & see what you’re working with. My guess is that the damaged area doesn’t extend out very far past those cracks in the nonskid, but no way to tell for sure until you dig a little deeper.
I’m no pro at glass work but assuming it’s fiberglass, I’d just treat it like any glass repair. You’ll only be able to deal with the one side so sand back and feather out the area maybe 5-7" in diameter and layer up some mat until you’re almost level. Sand a bit and either use some compound or make a filler with silica. Built it up and then sand it down again. Finish off with a few layers of gelcoat and grip. The color difference will show its been repairs but that’s no biggie.
It’s just a fishing boat and it looks like more of a cosmetic repair to the gel coat. I would grind it out a bit with a Dremel tool and mix up and apply some gel coat, when dry wet sand it a little and go fishing.
Well, there’s the right way, and there’s the Fk let’s fish for now and get back to it later way.
Structurally I doubt you have any concerns, but you don’t want to leave it unattended as it could cause some potential delam issues or fiberglass in the foot issues. Proper fix is grind it out, feather the area around it, glass it, fair it, gel coat it.
The fk let’s fish way, mix up a Pnut butter fill hole, smooth it out and send it..for now.. or Marine Tex it. White Marine Tex would atleast match somewhat close.
Appreciate the input. If it’s just a fiberglass repair I’m not too concerned about doing it myself, wasn’t too sure on what parts are glass vs other materials on these boats.
Doesn’t seem all that bad. Pop the chips out and see how it looks underneath. If the glass is damage you could grind it out, replace and gel coat it. If the glass isn’t damaged and you plan on keeping and redoing the boat later on, prep the area, mix up some gel coat and thicken it with whatever thickener suits your fancy, apply it and fish on.
