11 Oct 24:
Turned our attention to SMEDLEY's port transom, it sustained damage during our move from Florida to Virginia. What we decided to do is to glue the bits back together with TotalBoat THIXO Pro, a thickened epoxy adhesive, and to add la few layers of 6 oz fiberglass cloth above and below the reapir area to act as a splint. The first order of business was to clean and scuff the area with 80 grit sandpaper disc on a 20V DeWALT random orbital sander to give the epoxy a good surface to grip.
6 oz fiberglass strips cut to splint the corner and bridge over any voids.
We wet out the fiberglass cloth with the THIXO Pro and then laid strips on the deck side and on the hull side of the damaged area. plus we injected THIXO into the split deck/hull seam and into any other fractured areas we saw. The strength in this area is in the deck/hull flange, and essentially we are building up a reinforced flange that has 5 more layers of fiberglass than the original flange.
The TotalBoat THIXO "PRO" is simply the larger size thickened resin and hardener cartridges meant mostly for industrial use. The plastic syringes I bought off of amazon, and if rinsed out they can be used again.
We put down plastic to keep the paint sticks and clamps from sticking to the epoxy. The paint sticks and clamp pressure will flatten out the deck/hull flange.
Video: How to open and close a C clamp
