: For the oilcanning, I think I'd do as Paul mentioned and put a
: reinforcing rib down the bottom, probably better in the center
: as it'll be out of the way most of the time. Doesn't need to be
: very tall. Might take a piece of 1/2 round wood trim and epoxy
: it to the bottom then glass over the top of that. You could use
: a piece of fiberglass tape, it's sold on a roll pre-cut. You'll
: need to scrub the area with acetone to remove any waxes then
: mask the area you'll be working on and sand to remove the gloss.
: Then epoxy the rib in place and once that's set glass over the
: top of that. The lightest weight fiberglass tape will work fine.
: You can buy all the supplies at a place like West Marine. You'd
: mostly never know it was there but should stop the problem.
: Using fiberglass mat is a bad idea, won't do anything but add
: weight.

The oilcanning is only happening on the left side of the hull. About halfway between the bottom of the hull and the seam line. So I'm assuming it makes the most sense to put the rib in the middle of that ? This little section of the hull seems to be permanently deformed. It is sharply bent in at the center of the weak spot. Is this something I should just expect to live with? My guess is that I will likely end up with a hole if I try to eliminate the deformation entirely. Maybe I should take a stab at cleaning up the deformation and gelcoat before adding the rib.

: The coaming is trickier. Anything you try to glue into the gap will
: fall out with the skirt being stretched over it and popped back
: off. This is a two step fix. First you need to fill the gap,
: then you'll need to apply a couple pieces of fiberglass over the
: whole coaming to reinforce the coaming so the piece you stuck in
: won't pop back out. I'm not sure this is an easy enough fix for
: the first time you use fiberglass, or the 2nd. time for that
: matter. It'll effect the appearance of the boat to the point
: that if done wrong it'll be difficult to sell. I'd at minimum
: get help from someone with prior epoxy/fiberglass experience or
: hire someone to fix this.

Would you be able to take a guess at what a repair like this might cost? I'd really like to avoid spending money (read: I have no money). Is there anything you can think of that I could do as a temporary fix?

Thanks again,
Brian

P.S. I'm not signed up for any of those online photo sharing sites, but if you think photos would help clear up some of my poor descriptions I could either email them to you or look into signing up for one of those sites.