: if you can push the wood fibers back into place then you don't need a patch.
: Push the area back into shape if you can. Sand off the glass on both sides
: (inside and outside of the hull) of the hole, feathering the edges. Let it
: dry thoroughly before recovering with the glass and resin. If your sanding
: has messed up the appearance of the wood in that area, then you'll want to
: go for a patch. Otherwise, just let it dry and recover with glass and
: resin.

: You may want to wait on this repair. The amounts of resin that you will mix
: up for such small repairs are minuscule. Why not just replace the duct
: tape by slapping a patch of glass and resin on the outside of your boat. (
: Just use one or two coats of resin to barely fill the weave) No real need
: to do any work on the inside of the boat at this time. This will be a
: simple replacement for the duct tape, and little more. Then, at the end of
: the season you can sand off this temproary patch and redo the job
: properly. By that time you may have several more scratches, dings and dent
: to deal with -- and you can do them all at the same time.

: By the way, what was the layup of glass on your hull? Also, what was the
: thickness of the plywood used for the hull? it is a totally unscientific
: survey, but I'm interested in seeing if the reports of dings and hull
: penetrating holes are realted to perhaps thin plywood construction and
: lightweight glass, or if they are as common as with the thicker
: construction.

: PGJ

My boat is a standard kit-built Chessapeake 18 with 4 mm okuome and one layer of 6 oz glass on the bottom in that area. The inside of the hull may have had another layer of 6 oz in that area since I glassed my cockpit and it probably extended past the bulkehad. Ie. 6 oz glass, 4 mm okuome hull, then 6 oz glass again. I will have to look though about that part.

Do you think it may be beneficial to use a heat gun to help dry that area out. The surrounding wood definitely got darker due to water penetration in the wood fibers.

Thanks, Pete czerpak albany, NY