Fixing Inadequate Wet-Out

While surfaces of our Prout Escale are generally sound, there are some areas where even the hull surface has degraded due to inadequate construction quality. Below is one example of a hull blister we fixed on the foredeck. However, other areas have similar issues and will have to be addressed at some point. For example, a number of the deck-hull joint areas exhibit cracking in the gel-coat.

Here is a small section of deck which had a void. Evidently, not enough resin had been used: The gel coat cracked as nothing supported it and some water found its way in. This area is 3 inches by 2 inches... We enlarged the hole to a point where we could inject the resin that had been missing (you could flex the deck and see it get sucked under). Furthermore, it was important for us to cover the whole extent of the "bubble" under the deck while preserving as much of the original gel-coat as possible.

To infiltrate the dry glass-fiber area, we dried it over a week, cleaned it several times with acetone and similar cleaners to "get" the water out of the hole. Finally we used Git Rot, a light-flowing epoxy to whet and bind the underlying fibres. However, if you don't plan on using GitRot quickly, I recommend a ice bucket to keep it cool. GitRot catalyzes with a exothermic reaction hot enough to melt the bottle it comes in.

We faired this section back into the hull and with some paint it almost disappeared. In the picture above you can see the first layer of paint being applied. In the picture below you can see the finished deck patch. The former hole in the deck is now barely visible.

There are a number of additional "bumps" in the deck that are likely candidates, yet have not cracked yet. We also have a number of "spider webs" where the gel coat evidently could not take the forces that were placed on it. One of those webs is just forward of the main saloon windows and has been there as long as I can remember. Most likely, that crack was caused by the torsional flexing when the hull was more "floppy" than it is today.

Some of the top and bottom hull-joints also show cracking due to over-stress and/or inadequate strength. More pictures to follow