Patching transducer hole

[KrabKrusher]

I removed my speedo and now I want to fill that dangerous 1 1/4 inch hole, presently just capped. Vessel is Albin Vega, glass of course. I thought I would grind the hole so the diameter at the outer skin is wider than at the inner, lay a glass patch over the hole from inside the hull, then fill the hole with silica-thicked West System, grind, fill, grind, fill, fair, and one last coat of epoxy.

[Gary]

The recommended method is to grind an area out to a 12 to 1 ratio. So if your hull is ½” thick you would grind 6” beveled diameter area. You would then lay successive layers of glass, the first one being about the same diameter as the ground out area, until you’ve built is up to about the same thickness as the original layup. This link points to a pdf file free for download that goes into mch more detail.

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/How ... enance.pdf

[mitiempo]

Today most suggest placing the largest layer of glass cloth first and working to the smallest, the theory being you will not sand through the large piece when fairing.