Hi Steve,
Were you using the right size bit, for the
screws? Were they blowing out the gelcoat when
you screwed them in? I think most installers
just drill, maybe smear a little 101 and screw
down the snap. Are you making it a big project?
If you need to fill a bunch of small holes, you
might want to consider the two-part mixing tubes,
even if you use one puddy knife to mix on
another, it's a pretty quick and easy system.
I've used the EZ Fair 7050 Epoxy Fairing
Compound:
http://www.fisheriessupply.com/pettit-paint-ez-fair-7050-epoxy-fairing-compound-7050cart
It's a good way to mix and fill a little hole by
hole. Yes, drilling, routing out the balsa,
cleaning, prepping and injecting uncatalyzed
resin, sucking out, mixing catalyzed resin, and
re-injecting may be a better, "correct" method,
but for little holes an quick fixes, the tube
stuff is very handy, an should be good for your
snap holes and more.
2 cents, Lee
I bought a used Natty dodger for my boat and am
faced with the same task for the 30+ holes to
install the Lift-the-Dot® fasteners that it
requires to fasten the canvass to the deck.
I did try to counter sink holes in the gelcoat
and screw into the top fiberglass layer
underneath, but that turned out to be a disaster.
I have done lots of through bolting for various
things over the years without difficulty, but
this was my first experience trying to use self
tapping fasteners (look like wood screws) in the
deck and it was not a positive experience. The
gelcoat is very thick in places, and in spite of
my attempts to counter sink the gelcoat, often
as not the screw chips out a huge flake.
Removing the canvas female fastener from the
deck mounted pins can take some force, and the
screws pull out of the thin top layer of fiber
glass. So I concluded after several
failures that I need to stop what I was doing
and use the drill and fill procedure. Then came
winter.
In all of these discussions about drilling and
filling over the years, everyone defaults to
using West System epoxy resin to fill the areas
needing reinforcement.
What is it about this product that makes it so superior?
Why not use a polyester resin? - at least gelcoat will stick to it.
Like most of us older guys I had experience with
automotive body fillers in my younger years.
They are all polyester. What is wrong with using that?
Some of the Lift-the-Dot®
fasteners are difficult to release and I don't
know how to fix them. I have been thinking about
changing over to the flat, 1/4 turn fasteners
that are commonly used now. Is it a practical
solution? Has anyone tried this?
Spring project.
Steve Thomas
C&C27 MKIII
--
Lee Youngblood <l...@1gigharbor.com> (425) 444-9109
Your Shilshole Sailboat Broker
Gig Harbor Yacht Sales | Seattle
Office @ Dockside Solutions
7001 Seaview Avenue NW #160
Seattle, WA 98117
New Office Phone (206) 707-1778
GHYS website: http://www.1gigharbor.com/
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