Sponson fix

[Tom Foley]

Got a damaged rear , left side sponson. I have fixed a lot of broken boats and parts but open to suggestions. It is attached with body panel tape and I will be repairing it in place . My gut tells me to fill with light compound and sand to shape then add bottom wood pies or reverse and fit the wood bottom , then fill , sand and add the side piece . Open to suggestions.

 

[Bill Gibson]

Got a damaged rear , left side sponson. I have fixed a lot of broken boats and parts but open to suggestions. It is attached with body panel tape and I will be repairing it in place . My gut tells me to fill with light compound and sand to shape then add bottom wood pies or reverse and fit the wood bottom , then fill , sand and add the side piece . Open to suggestions.

Man thats a tough one depending on how good you want it to look Tom. You may already have the only ideas for fixing it short of taking it off the boat and fixing it.

 

[Terry Keeley]

Fill it with West and 410 Microlight, sand and go racing!

 

[John Beardslee]

I’d use masking tape to build a dam all around it. Then use straight West epoxy, warm it with a hot air gun and use halogen lights to keep it warm while the warm epoxy saturates. It will take awhile to completely fill. Let dry then sand and final fill with micro fiber filled epoxy repeat until you’re satisfied.

 

[john v]

Trim the damaged wood and get some of the same thickness plywood and match it, it takes some time but when your done it really looks good

 

[longballlumber]

Not quite the same damage, but maybe this will provide inspiration. I actually cut away from the sheeting and core to provide sufficient glue surface for the repair. IIRC, I used my Dremel with grout/router attachment so I could measure the thickness of the sheeting, in-turn controlling the depth of my cuts.... I then used balsa for a new sponson core, then re-sheeted over the core.

 

[dr gary turner]

Billed the dam as described
Fill with Mas or West system epoxy mixed with MILLED fiberglas into almost a putty fill it in. Incredible strength, like rebar.

Leave a slight gap at the base of the sponson so the area can be easily re-sheeted.

Aircraft Spruce has micro ballon’s and milled fiber glass by the pound.

CHEAP

I RECENTLY have been mixing some milled fiber with my Max Epoxy where iI won’t strength and bonding to an irregular surface

No significant extra weight

 

[dr gary turner]

Milled fiberglass

 

[John Beardslee]

I wouldn’t use micro balloons, they reduce strength. Use micro fiber only for strength but you can use micro balloons for final finishing as it sands easy.

 

[Jeff Lutz]

Tom use this stuff. Made by FGCI. Its thick kind of like vaseline. Bonds to both fiberglass and wood I havent found anything it wont bond with. They are in the St. Pete area. Commercial grade smokes hobby shop products. Don Pinckert told me about it in Brandon years ago, Jeff Lutz

 

[Mike Hughes]

I am leaning towards Mike Balls patch. Not very hard to do. Fixed many hydros using his technique in the past. Patching is just a bandaid. It will fail in time. Cut it off and replace foam and sheeting. Only need to cut enough to get back for overlap.
Mike

 

[Terry Keeley]

Nice to be able to remove them if needed, I like 3M body trim tape, works better than the big box grey stuff.

https://www.3mcanada.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/v000091660/

 

[Jeff Lutz]

Tom, the Super Bond product I posted comes with 3 different activators. I’ve only used the medium. The viscosity of it is thick and you don’t have to build dams for repair. I actually repaired a spot on the bottom of my offshore fishing boat underneath it and it stayed and dried fine without dripping. I have many 250 mile round trip tuna trips on it also and you could not break it off with a hammer. It’s not cheap but you can do many things with it. Jeff

 

[Tom Foley]

Good info . I need to do some trimming first., maybe tomorrow. Thanks guys .