Last night, in an act of abject stupidity, I closed the garage door and broke 18 inches off the front of my assembled, taped but not glassed deck panels (Arctic Tern). The break was relatively clean and at a 90 degree angle to the long axis of the deck. I was able to match the broken ends pretty cleanly and cut away the portions of tape that had delaminated at the break. There was one section about the size of a nickel where the top ply adhered to the tape and ripped out near the deck seam. That chunk of wood was not salvagable. on the outside, there are a couple of places where about 1/8 inch of the top plys tore out along the fracture line.

After I stopped cussing myself out, I fitted the broken ends together as closely as possible and glassed three layers of 2 inch tape all across the fracture line (alternating two layers lengthwise and one layer across) As best as I can determine by eyeball I have maintained the original angle both vertically and horizontally along the deck seam and shear. On the outside, I plan to fill the torn out gap along the fracture with thickened epoxy then cover the area with a patch of 6 oz cloth prior to glassing the deck. That area near the bow does not seem to be a high stress area. Will these repairs be sufficiently strong or will I need to glass in some plywood reinforcements to the underside of the deck? I had planned to paint the hull and leave the deck bright so I'll have to think up a way to hide or minimumize the scar on the deck as best I can with paint or veneer.

Does this sound workable or should I just go back to Pygmy for new deck panels and start over?

Larry the Dope