: I have question RE fiberglass repair.

: I'm having trouble reparing fiberglass damage to my strip built
: Greak Auk. After a year of use the fiberglass under the epoxy on
: the stern and bow stems has turned white in a few places where
: minor impacts have occured. The damage appears to be only
: cosmetic, but I would like to repair the damage nonetheless.
: I've tried cutting out the white damaged areas and putting in
: new fiberglass and epoxy but the edges around the area that I've
: cut out end up visible as white score lines. As I write this I'm
: thinking that maybe I could gently sand these score lines out of
: the epoxy? If anyone has any input it would be greatly
: appreciated.

You don't want a sharp edge to the repair. you want to "feather in" your repair. Think of it as a scarf joint in the fiberglass. Sand out about 2 inches from the edges of the repair, tapering the sanding job so that it goes from the surface of the wood to the surface of the glass in that 2 inch band. Since the 'glass i not real thick, this is a gentle taper.
apply resin to the exposed wood, the sanded area, and an inch or two past that. press in a patch of fresh fiberglass fabric and cover with a bit more resin towet out the glass. If the area you are repairing originally had two or more layers of glass fabric, then apply the same amount to this patch. the center of your patch should be level with the original surface, but the edges of the patch will run up the beveled area and be sitting on top of the old surface. This is fine. Once the resin has hardened you will sand down through the high layers of glass, restoring a level surface, which will be even with the original surface. The edges of the glass patch will be sanded thin. A fill coat or two of resin will fill the weave and the patch should not be noticeable. Fine sanding and some varnish complete the repair.

If your patch works fine now, leave it alone for a year or two. You can make these repairs at the end of the year--just before you put the thing into storage for the winter. Then it can rest and the epoxy can cure for a few months in the off season, and emerge next spring like a beautiful butterfly. :)

Oh, and you'll probably pick up a few dings and dents while you paddle this year. Those can all be fixed at the same time.

Hope this helps

PGJ