Our Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY is upright again so we can work on the stern.
These paddle brackets are aftermarket, and needed to be removed so I could drill out the trim rivets.
Damaged stern corner, port side.
A 1/8" diameter steel bit is used to remove the head and shank of the aluminum rivets. Be careful to not drill all the way through the bottom edge of the trim.
Sanded with 80 grit discs on a 20V De WALT random orbital sander.
We layered strips of 6 oz fiberglass cloth to seal up the cracks and rebuild structure, with TotalBoat THIXO thickened epoxy adhesive as the adhesive. Since we plan to use polyester based gelcoat, we will have to use TotalBoat primer over the epoxy once the epoxy is dry.
We laid a strip of plastic over the repair and then paint stir sticks to help smash everything straight. Light clamping is used so as not to squeeze the adhesive out of the repair joints and fabric
TotalBoat THIXO PRO is thickened epoxy resin and hardener in separate tubes, larger quantities for Pro shops. THIXO also comes in one smaller caulk cartridge, and it is best to buy a High Thrust 25:1 ratio caulk gun that makes dispensing the thick product easier, vs the standard 7:1 tool. One trick we use is to dispense some of the THIXO into a syringe, so we can get adhesive into tight spots. We also use the THIXO to wet out the fiberglass cloth.
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