Painted hulls are not my expertise but here it goes;

Any were the fiberglass has been compromised you must repair it, sand the area around the damage to remove the old paint and lose fibers, than put on a fiberglass patch, about an inch beyond the gouge or damage (in all directions).

As for putting a piece of fiberglass tape down the keel line you have to first remove all the paint from that area in order to bond the new epoxy/tape to the old epoxy with a mechanical bond.

Unless there is a particular reason, I probably would not put any additional tape along the keel line but that’s personal. It all depends on how you use your boat. If you find yourself going over oyster beds and scraping the bottom then it may be worthwhile. Again it is all personal. if you decide to do it then treat it like a long patch.

As for the scratches, dings and chips just sand them out if possible, fill any low areas with thickened epoxy, then fair out those areas when cured.

After everything is cured, its time to repaint the entire hull. The prep work is just like painting your house, first scrap any lose paint, sand to smooth and to give a good mechanical bond, then prime and paint.

Good luck, (my 2 cents worth)

Jason Given

: After several years of use, I have quite a few scratches, chips, dings, and a
: couple of gouges - one of which has gone through the fiberglass. I feel
: like I should recondition the bottom of the boat but am not sure how. I
: guess my plan would be to just sand it with a rotary sander and then
: repaint. I don't want to eat through any fiberglass though. Also, since I
: have a continuous line of scraped off paint along the keel line (if thats
: the right term [basically the bottom middle of the boat]), I have
: considered reinforcing this. What I was thinking was to spread a thin bead
: of epoxy along the length of the keel line, lay some glass tape on top and
: smush it down a bit, a couple of days later take an exacto knife or other
: instrument and trim the sides of the tape off, wet out the epoxy a couple
: of times and then sand so that it smoothly merges with rest of hull. I
: would probably leave this unpainted. Does this seem reasonable or more
: like a bad idea? Anyone ever recondition a hull? Maybe I should just stick
: with a light hand sand and recoat.

: Dave Walker