Hey, I don’t have a boat these days, but I do know that everyone is looking for ways to keep costs in check–so they can make more fishing trips. It seems to me, then, that any service you can perform on your own–and get reasonably good results–would be a smart idea. So why not fiberglass repair?
There is a new book just out that would seem to come at the perfect time. Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated, is a “comprehensive guide to making repairs to a fiberglass boat and how to finish and paint those repairs.”
And heck, if it were impossible, nobody could do it.
The news release says, “Written by Roger Marshall, winner of numerous awards for marine technical and magazine writing and author of 14 nautical books, the nine chapters of Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated cover: how a fiberglass boat is built, identifying hull damage; materials, tools and basic techniques; gelcoat restoration; making minor repairs; making major repairs; hull, keel and rudder fairing; identifying and making osmosis repairs; and finishing and painting a repair job.”
The book has more than 200 pictures and drawings, shows specific repair projects accomplished by the author and others from simply polishing the gelcoat or repairing a ding in the paint work, to much larger projects such as making a transom well guard. (I don’t think you’ll need that, unless you’re building a junker into something.
Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated (ISBN 978-0-07-154992-9, MHID 0-07-154992-7, ebook ISBN 978-0-07-154993-5) is published by International Marine/McGraw-Hill. Paperback, 192 pages. US $24.95.