How To Repair A Cracked Fiberglass Recurve Bow

When you have a small "web" of cracks in your fiberglass, it can strike you as an impossible repair. How tin can you possibly restore the wait of fiberglass when at that place are so many nooks and crannies to deal with? The adept news is that spider cracks tin be far easier to handle once you know what to do. Hither'southward everything yous'll demand to know to repair these cracks.

Diagnosing "Spider Cracks" in Fiberglass

It tin can exist difficult to diagnose spider cracks, particularly when you're not aware of them. Since these cracks often course from modest impacts or minor flexing, they tin appear just most anywhere on your gunkhole. And if there'due south not too much discoloration, you tin sometimes completely fail to see these cracks from distant.

To diagnose "spider cracks," audit your boat and look for the following:

Small cracks forming, especially at the surface of the fiberglass
Cracks spreading out from the centre, much as you lot would encounter in a spider web

Once you're sure you lot're dealing with these types of cracks in the outer gel coat of the fiberglass, your set up can be limited to the fiberglass exterior. Hither's the best way to get virtually it.

Repairing Spider Cracks

The good news virtually these cracks is that they're largely cosmetic problems. This means you can employ a simple, cosmetic fix.

Move your boat to a prophylactic workplace. First, get your boat to a well-ventilated expanse where information technology can exist sheltered overnight.
Make clean the area. Clean the fissure area with acetone. Apply a rag to protect your fingers and to do a thorough job of removing dirt and debris that might have defenseless in the cracks. Even if you can't run into all of this debris, it has the tendency to build up and lead to discoloration.
Sand down the area. An electric sander is optional hither, specially if the affected area is still modest. Feel gratis to brand a judgment call here, as sanding past hand is easier and more affordable, but it may take you more time.
Remove sanding dust. Once finished, remove all the grit from the sanding with the rag and acetone once more.
Tape off and apply gel coat. After masking off the area with painter's record, use a paint castor to use gel coat. Apply a marine form fiberglass resin, and be certain to go along it in a separate container until it's gear up to employ. Once information technology is, brand certain that the brush doesn't have any loose bristles, and employ the gel coat carefully after following the directions on the gel glaze package.
Dry, sand, make clean and pigment. Later assuasive the gel glaze to cure overnight, you can smooth the surface area out with sandpaper, clean out the sanded expanse, and then both prime and paint the fiberglass if the color's off.

Create a Better-Looking Boat

Want more means to make clean, maintain, and repair your boat? Make sure you scan all of the boat products available here at BoatLIFE to ensure that problems similar spider cracks don't threaten to throw off your boat's unabridged look.