Hi all.

I have a crack under the mainsheet traveller. It opens up to approx 3mm when under tension.

you can also see it from the inside just behind the bolts in the second pictute.

It appears to have already been reinforced with a patch of F'Glass.
I was thinking of getting some 2-3mm stainless plate and having it bent to the shape and then bolting through the hull so that it covers the crack from the edge of the traveller to approx 100mm below the crack. Having over sized washers on the inside.

I was given an estimate of $1,500 over the phone to get it fixed with fiberglass!!

opinions would be appreciated.

Where is the boat and is the area in photo 2 accessable

The interesting thing is the vertical crack at the end of the horizontal one. Hard to work out why that is there. I can only assume the fiberglass is a bit thin.

Disclaimer. I'm not a boat builder. But it is hard to see how a stainless strap can be put in enough tension to stop the crack from opening up.

It's not a big area. Maybe some layers of carbon fiber cloth epoxied over the area and a white flowcoat covering over that will require less bulk to build it up and will be easier to make look OK; especially if the repair has to be external and visible. Yes, flowcoat doesn't bond well to epoxy but on a small lightly scuffed area it gives a good cosmetic finish for little effort.

You are asking for help but you are very scatchy with details. What boat, how old, modified?, more picture of the whole cockpit area and the whole traveller track would be a good start.

That traveller car is very old.

I'd rather use the 2-3mm stainless to bend it into a U channel the length of the traveller and bolt it on the underside to reduce the flex in the traveller under tension then use some epoxy and biaxial cloth to fix the crack properly. if you do it yourself unlikely to cost you more then 3-400 bucks in materials including the stainless and paint and you learn some new skills along the way .

From your pics to me it looks like the right angled crack is caused by a badly patched up access hatch hole . Have a look and compare the texture of the inside surface above and below the crack to see if its been patched from the inside. Its possible that someone used some cloth and polyester resin to patch up a hole from the inside then used gelcoat or bog to fill the outside level with existing surface and the outside crack is along the old hole while the inside crack is along the cloth patch.
Hard to tell from a pic until you start grinding along the crack .

Thanks Hard
It has new cloth on inside and outside.
So it has been repaired before.
I have already got a price on the stainless and bolts for $200.
So a lot cheaper.
Cheers.

Don't do stainless!

There is no reason to try and get hard to bend stainless in there - just use glass.

Go to the fibreglass supplies shop and get some double bias fabric. About 400gm. Get some resin. I always use epoxy but you can use poly if you want to flowcoat over it.

Take out all of the traveller bolts. Grind the affected area with a 4 inch angle grinder and 40grit pad. Wear a mask. Then find look for any cracks and fill them with some resin and microballoons. Then a quick sand.

Then get a piece of old ply or MDF larger than the affected area. Cut out patches of double bias to fit the area - probably about 4 layers would do. Stagger the edges inwards for each layer by about 30mm.

Presaturate the glass on the ply with a squeegee and then roll and lift into place. Wet out some more with a disposable brush. Repeat (You will need less resin the second and third time.)

Cover all with a layer of peel ply. Then rip off when hard, light sand and coat with flowcoat (or paint if you used epoxy).

Redrill the traveller through the nice new tough job. On the outside you can use a dremmel to grind out the crack and insert flowcoat. Sand and buff the flowcoat smooth.

If you want to stiffen the lot up then you can glass over some epoxied in place timber to make a beam under the traveller.

Go to Trojan in Cardiff for materials.

Phil

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Kankama said..
Don't do stainless!

There is no reason to try and get hard to bend stainless in there - just use glass.

Go to the fibreglass supplies shop and get some double bias fabric. About 400gm. Get some resin. I always use epoxy but you can use poly if you want to flowcoat over it.

Take out all of the traveller bolts. Grind the affected area with a 4 inch angle grinder and 40grit pad. Wear a mask. Then find look for any cracks and fill them with some resin and microballoons. Then a quick sand.

Then get a piece of old ply or MDF larger than the affected area. Cut out patches of double bias to fit the area - probably about 4 layers would do. Stagger the edges inwards for each layer by about 30mm.

Presaturate the glass on the ply with a squeegee and then roll and lift into place. Wet out some more with a disposable brush. Repeat (You will need less resin the second and third time.)

Cover all with a layer of peel ply. Then rip off when hard, light sand and coat with flowcoat (or paint if you used epoxy).

Redrill the traveller through the nice new tough job. On the outside you can use a dremmel to grind out the crack and insert flowcoat. Sand and buff the flowcoat smooth.

If you want to stiffen the lot up then you can glass over some epoxied in place timber to make a beam under the traveller.

Go to Trojan in Cardiff for materials.

Phil

Well said Kankama working with double bias cloth and epoxy is something almost anyone can do. Give it a crack!!

Thanks everyone.
I dont have a problem working with steel or glass.
I just thought steel because it has been repaired with glass at least one before.
I like the idea of putting a piece of timber or steel under the traveller to bridge the cracked section. Then glass would be my preferred option as I am painting the deck soon.

Thanks.

+1 for have a go with glass. You are lucky that the affected area is largely hidden, so it doesn't matter if the repair job is rough.

I wonder if the original failed because they didn't taper the joint properly. Might explain why if failed again.

A

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Kankama said..

Go to Trojan in Cardiff for materials.

Phil

Thanks for the tip on Trojan.
Didn't even know it existed.

Cheers

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valo said..

I just thought steel because it has been repaired with glass at least one before.=

Patched up yes, repaired nope.
If it was done right the first time using epoxy and biax cloth and with at least some large backing washers to hold it in place the heads of traveller bolts would have snapped long before the glass would have cracked like that.

Now if you want to repair it properly you'll have to remove the dodgy work back to original glass and bond the new cloth to that so you end up with a structural repair and not another patch up job that will crack up again 2-3 years down the track. If you want to gelcoat the epoxy repair rather then paint it you can, just wait for it to cure properly & wash off the blush with 60 grit wet sanding then let it dry before applying the gelcoat.

I think that fitting the stainless plate will still leave you with the crack and the possibility of a new crack if you bolt your stainless onto the patched area. Also a 2-3mm plate of stainless bent around that section would hide the existing crack but likely not thick enough to stop it flexing or the crack opening every time the traveller is under tension.
If it was me I'd spend the $200 on cloth and epoxy to repair the area properly rather then spend it on a stainless plate then put some decent 316 mudguard washers between the nuts holding the traveller and hull because once you fix the hull that would be your next weak point.

So I have glassed over the crack with 400g DB glass. I was going to do 2 layers. However, when I was grinding the old stuff away I noticed that one side was only about 1mm thick. the crack already had filler in it. The patch that was covering the crack was only very thin. So I have done 4 sheets of 400g DB. Overkill I know. But I had plenty of glass and epoxy.
I also ground out the stiffeners/ ribs that were a problem. Bogged then up to shape with epoxy and then 4 layers of 400g over this as well.

I have also done small repairs to some small impact shatters in the gel coat and where the head sail sheet has worn deep grooves into the hull near the winch on the port side. Some have been bogged with epoxy mixed with Q Cell and the one near the winch has been bogged and glassed with 4 layers of 135g.

I won't have time to paint the deck like I wanted. After sanding, should I coat these repairs with something to protect them? If so, will a coat of epoxy do, or do I have to use gel coat? I will be painting in a few months time.

Thanks.

Sounds like you did a good job. Now you must coat the epoxy with paint - epoxy does not handle sunlight. I usually coat with Wattyl UC 230 primer undercoat. Go to the Wattyl trade centre at Warners Bay and get check out their smallest pack. This sands nicely and will stop the UV degrading the job till you can paint it properly.

cheers

Phil

Aldi metal paint, $11 a litre.

Thanks Phil.
Sorry Romana, I don't trust anything from Aldi.
I've boight some dud products from them in the past.