Gunwale repair

A section of the gunwale did not have the groove and was obviously repaired. I thought that someone had just repaired a crack by filling the groove under the gunwale but boy, were I wrong..

Port side gunwale after initial sanding.

My game plan was to grind down the groove and recreate the shape using deck and hull putty but as soon as I put the grinder to it I again found wood...  

It is basically a piece of pine bridging a section of the gunwale.

 To remove it I used my trusty multi tool from Harbor Freight and after cutting into it in multiple locations I was able to remove the wood. Under the wood there was a layer of what can be filler or possible the stuff whaler join the hull and deck with. Not really sure.

Wood, moist foam and grime removed. Now I will put the heat lamp and fan on it for a day to make sure it is very dry. Then i need to test bond against the gray stuff.

After chipping off a piece of the gray stuff I learned that the "gray stuff" is not Whaler matter but a rather soft filler that is not that well adhered to the glass under it. It also became evident that the to of the gunwale had a layer of weave on top.

It seems like the repair was made by sticking the wood to the side, filling with gray stuff and put weave over it..

Teh old filler was possible to remove it by slipping a knife under it.

Who would have guessed.  More Weave...

After removing it i sanded the inside and cleaned the foam. One thing i learned is that a multi tool is great for sanding backsides of laminates.

Sanding of backside of glass. 

This removes all old foam and gives a better substrate. The triangular carbide tip is the tool i like best. Its very aggressive and it works very good in undercutting the foam and cleaning the backside.

Carbide sanding tip from Harbor Freight

Junk removed, now it time to figure how to build the structure back up.

All cleaned out and ready to build on. I don't care about the outer part that is a poorly adhered layer of glass weave.. That will be ripped out and glassed once i flip her over.

To build up the perimeter i took a piece aluminum angle of the silly-putty material home depot sell. I flipped it upside down and formed it to the starboard side.

Aluminum angle flipped over and formed to the gunwale on the port side.

Once i put this on the port side i will have a matching shape. I will paint the inside with PVA and fill the gap with fairing compound before laying the glass.

After the PVA dried i clamped the aluminum angle to the gunwale and filleted the inside corner with Merton's Hull and Deck putty. This hopefully prevent eggshellling when i lay up the glass and makes it easier to sand. Its non waxed so in a way, its like fiber filled gelcoat.

Merton's hull and deck putty is a fibrius filler that seem to stick better than the stuff i tried to make from CSM rippings recommended in the old whaler repair instructions that are floating around.

Here is the aluminum angle in place.

Here is the filleted corner. I also smoothed the underside of the weave. I will be sanding into this later but laying the glass on a smooth surface will reduce the risk of sanding through

After the Hull and Deck putty had hardened some i laid in three layers of 1-1/2 oz mat. I let the mat go slightly above the mold rail. Thanks to the fillet i made from the putty it was quite easy to wet the mat even in that tight spot.

After i got the glass done i created a dam with tape. I use 3M's outdoor masking tape, its fantastic to work with.

My first foam test was with 2 lb foam but that wad not hard enough so i ripped that out an bought some 6 lb foam from Merton's fiberglass and tried again.

I first poured a thinner layer of foam and while it was expanding i was managing it so i had some holes where i could inject a second batch so it could expand up under the glass of the side.

 

After it was fully hard i formed it to match the old gunwale.

The new fresh foam ready for undercutting and glass.

In this location and with the hard 6 lb foam under I did a lesser undercut. For this I used a sharpened bent screwdriver that I removed about 3/8 wide, 1/8 thick layer. I then sanded it with a folded 40 grit paper.

The sculpted foam undercut for the Morton's Hull and Deck Putty.,

Before adding glass I filled the undercut with the Hull and Deck putty. It would been terrible hard to work with the SCM strands in this place. Maybe a mash made from 1/4" chops could work but this stuff is very strong and is easy to work with.

Undercut filled with Merton's Hull and Deck Putty.

As soon as I filled the undercut I mixed up a batch of Vinyl ester and laminated 2 layers of 1-1/2 CSM over it. My plan is to sand this and then put two more layers over it.

Repair covered with the first layer of CSM.

After wetting out the mat I used a regular roller to compact the CSM. I wish I had a corner roller at this point.

Rolling down the CSM around the edge.