Here at West Country Boat Repairs, Pete and his team are specialists in repairing sailing dinghies with over 20 years of experience. We are an approved repair centre for all the popular specialist sailing dinghy insurance companies. All the West Country Boat Repairs staff are very keen dinghy sailors themselves. We are producing a series of videos on undertaking simple repairs on glass fibre sailing dinghies to help the keen boat owner carry out these common types of repairs on their own boats at home. The aim is to give owners the knowledge and confidence to prepare the surface of the boat around small areas of damage, use the right materials, how to apply repair materials, the different stages to go through, and how to get a good finish so the repair is unnoticeable. We are able to mail order you small quantities of repair materials or put together a complete repair kit for you. If you need a more significant repair carrying out, we are happy to give you a quote.
I just got one of these, I paid $200. for, but just the hull. A friend gave me the mast and boom in good condition, so I went online and was lucky. I have alot of experience restoring cataramans and windsurfers. I have a lot of extra parts I can use, and modify. This video was very helpful for me, I learned some important things. I will fix a big soft spot in the back section, under the traveler line. I'm going to cut the whole section out, bind the two layers with epoxy. Then all around the boat, on the seem, between the top and sides. And these lazers save as complicated as cararamans, which surprised me. I'm anxious to try it out. And thanks for showing the dagger board and rudder, I now know the best size to make them.
Properly love these, there's a natural nature to these videos and it means they're less flashy and somehow more trustworthy. I feel far more confident in making my fibreglass repair now, thanks.
Common situation in old Lasers. Vast majority of mast pot leaks are right down at the bottom of the tube. The best way is to cut a hole in the deck beside the mast pot. This gives you access to inside the boat and the block/ring the bottom of the tube sits in. Once dry it is a straight forward to resin around the bottom of tube and the ring it sits in. Then glass fibre over. In hole cut in deck put a hatch cover in this has added bonus of allowing to regularly air the inside of the boat and get all water out. Hope this helps
will this technique work further back on a 200 where the launching trolley has caused a crack all the way through. ive just found an almost identical crack on my 200 tonight to the one in your 200 buying guide part 2, that i need to fix but not sure how to stabilise the internal skin and core.. will painting resin on stabilise the inner skin and core enough?
Many Thanks ,,My fibre glass Filter Tank cracked hence the all water ran out losing about 40 odd Fish all about 8/9 inches long ,,SOoo This will help me repair the filter box for the other 30 odd survivors,,, Your video was VERY clear and informative. Again Many Thanks Budgie from Bognor Regis
Glad you found it helpful Tim. Yes for the last finish gel coat add a few drops of wax in styrene into the gel. This prevents the finished surface feel a little tacky once it has cured. Pre mixed gels you may buy in often have wax already mixed in
Hey, is this also how you could split the two halves? By using a dremel and going all around? I habe an old dinghy and unfortunately the wood inside thats used to hold hardware in place rottet away. So i need to open it up to redo it.
We use this method to repair our ilca lasers. The resin is used without adding bubbles because we don't have any. Thank you from Perros Guirec french Brittany.
Glad you found it useful and helped clear confusion. We are doing 1 to 1 courses on weekday's convenient to people wanting to book. At the moment you could book any weekday in Jan, Feb, March
You been a great help in finding out what in red to do I'm converting a laser dingy into something for the canal I've cut all the deck out now it's time for the fun bit
Another thing for the mast step is to check it's all even, ours on 728 has been compressed on one of the sides so the mast might no actually be sitting straight on the boat.
Hi Dan it is really difficult to take video during the show as so many people are watching the live demo's and there is a lot of noise. Is there a specific thing you would like to see in repairing an Opie? or just generally interested
Glad you found it useful. We have started courses again and doing 1 to 1 courses on weekday's convenient to people wanting to book. At the moment you could book any weekday in Jan, Feb, March
Thanks for looking at our video Jeffrey. We made a bonding paste by adding a lot of glass bubbles to polyester resin with a small amount of colloidal silica to slightly thicken whilst still allowing the mix to flow. We fill a small syringe with a thin nozzle to so you can get right into the joint . Hope this helps
Hi James we don't have any links but this companies website is very good for buying materials www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/ or alternatively we can supply a complete repair kit with all the accessories such as brushes, cups etc. They cost £70-£90 plus carriage depending on how many gels are needed. If you email me on westcountryboatrepairs@btinternet.com with the boat you want to repair and a rough idea of the repairs needed. cheers Pete
Hello West Country Boat Repairs, I have seen your past boat repair videos, they are super helpful to me. Thanks for this helpful video, I'll keep it in mind for when I next buy a sailing boat. I have recently started repairing/building boats with my first video being released today, you're more than welcome to have a look, possibly suggest how I could improve things? Thanks Tom
Glad you found it imformative Brian. we avoid doing that as the sander is too aggressive for this job. From experience it leaves fine scratch swirls which are then not completely removed by the wet and drying and can be seen easily so the finish is not as good.
Hi Randy! Sorry for the delayed response. This is something we are currently considering. If you'd like to email us at westcountryboatrepairs@btinternet.com we may be able to sort something out! Thanks, Pete
Hi Sean! Sorry for the delayed response. your foil is constructed differently to the laser one, so we would normally repair it as per the boat e.g. fibreglass sheet then gelcoat. What is the damage to yours?
@@seanricketts941 If you'd like to email us some photos of your boat and the damage we will be able to advise you further on how to approach the repair work: westcountryboatrepairs@btinternet.com
thanks Dan hope you found it of use when working on your 2000. Green tape has no purpose for the repair we had just gone round the boat and marked up the areas that need repair.
Hi James very available I bought them through Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TZ34YQP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 plenty of choice on there. Happy cleaning
hey great video thank you for uploading. Would you recommend a UV inhibiting wax after this process to stop it happening again? Are those UV waxes effective?
Thanks for your comment glad you found it of use. UV waxes are a short term answer and you will have to re apply over time. This is a slow process so fading will re appear over a number of years. The answer is to get a cover with a long skirt that covers down to the waterline - see Sun and rain covers. Pete
