West System Fibreglass Boat Repair & Maintenance Guide

A detailed guide to repair, restoration and prolonging the life of fibreglass boats with information on minor cracks, stringers & floors, damaged skins, repairing cores and more.

This guide is now available free online from West System.

This fibreglass maintenance manual is an ideal starting point for novices to learn, and for the experienced to recap the basics. The guide book on fibreglass maintenance includes:

• Introduction: Understanding fibreglass boat construction and the usefulness of available epoxy systems.
• Repairing Minor Cracks & Holes: Repairing surface and gelcoat damage and reinforcing to reduce flexing.
• Repairing Stringers & Floors: Reinforcing to improve panel stiffness.
• Repairing Damaged Skins: Assessing and repairing structural damage to fibreglass laminate skins.
• Repairing Core Related Damage: Repairing wet and delaminated cores and replacing damaged core material.
• Repairing and Upgrading Soles and Decks: Repairing delaminated or rotted soles and decks. Bonding thin teak strips with epoxy for an authentic and practical teak deck.
• Installing Hardware: Repairing loose hardware and improving the load carrying ability of hardware items.
• Repairing Keels and Rudders: Repairing impact damage, to internal and external keels, reshaping templating keels and rudders and repairing worn rudder bearings.
• Using West System Epoxy: Standard techniques for using the West System Epoxy range of products safely and efficiently and providing basic methods used in repair operations.

The fibreglass boat repair guide book runs through in a logical format with clear headings, lots of detail and drawn images for explanation along the way.