[Rhodes22-list] Fiberglass Failure at Motor Mount in Lazarette

[ASNOOCH at aol.com]

My years of experience with fibreglass work reminds me that several lessons 
 are essential: Both the resin and catalyst must be purchased from a high 
volume  dealer, to have some assurance of freshness... or it just may not 
harden  properly and result in failure., Second, the surface-s to be bonded 
must be  properly prepared to accept the new cloth/resin, Third, patience is 
required for  each layer to harden prior to the addition of following 
layers... I bonded in  1/4 inch scrap strips of aluminum to reinforce the stern 
acting as a backing  plate and further strengthening the hull. I extended my 
internal/ laz glass work  to wrap around the sides and bilge of the ship to 
further tie in the  stern.  Again , it appears the most "delicate" structure of 
our ships is  our sterns... afterall we are not hanging 450 hp outboards on 
our stern or  pulling ships, skiiers, etc... however, I guess I could 
rename my ship the "hard  ass"... however not... 
Burt
 
 
In a message dated 8/2/2012 9:16:28 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
pbryanriley at gmail.com writes:

David,
I have seen a similar cracking on mine but not quite as  bad.  My
solution has to add aluminum angle on the outside edges of my  lift to
add vertical stiffness and I ran 1 piece of aluminum  angle
horizontally on the inside across the 2 mount bolts and the  rudder
support.  I thought I had done good, but now after Burts note I  am
worried again.  I assumed my flexing was due to stresses  from
trailering rather than on the water action.  I now use straps to  help
secure the motor when I trailer with it on.

On mine it looked  like the cracking was only in the foarm type
material that appears to have  been used to mold in the wooden pieces.
The wood on mine is not really  glassed in, the foam stuff seems to
offer no structural support, at least  at this age.  The good news is
your fiberglass may be fine and only  the other stuff cracked from
flexing.  The bad news is, I don't think  you want to just glass over
that weak foam stuff.  Not sure how well  your quick fix will work
without stripping down to bare wood and  glass.  I am just speculating
- I have never done any fiberglass  repair  myself
-Patrick
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