Bever Posted September 7, 2020 Report Share Posted September 7, 2020 I was doing some fiberglass work recently and I noticed the hull on my 1995 Kevlar LT20 seems to be pulling away from the cap. I recently noticed a small gap on the port front side between the bottom of my rubrail and the hull. I removed the caulk underneath my rubrail to see better. I’m unsure how long it has been like this. I’m unsure how hard it is to remove the rubrail (and get it back on later) to see better and to determine why there is a gap. I don’t know what is supposed to be holding the “hull to deck joint” together. Screws from the rubrail? 5200, thickened epoxy? Are these screws that are visible supposed to pull the hull tight to the deck? I’m unsure how to proceed. If I remove the rubrail and notice the screw holes are worn I can epoxy or fiberglass to reinforce the holes or drill new ones and re-screw it. Will the tightening screws pull the hull out properly? Any chance of it cracking? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The top side is attached just fine all the way around and there is no gap. This is just 3 feet on the one side. Also, the cap is loose on the bow of the boat. I just noticed this when I removed a trolling motor mount and an anchor light from the bow’s deck. Both were screwed into the deck and I suppose partly into the hull And this was possibly helping hold it together. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. Also, I’ve done some repairs to the keel. In grinding through the paint and into some fairing, I got a good bit of water running and then dripping out. I then drilled more holes along the entire bottom of the boat and all of them had water run out of them. I’m curious if there are any best practices for this situation. I’ve seen videos of people drilling holes in the back of a boat transom near the bottom and hopefully into the core between the fiberglass holding the water in. They then installed a plug to be able to drain the core. Any thoughts? Jason in Valrico, Fl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsnook35 Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 The cap is “glued” down usually with some type of adhesive. Then there are screws that go down the side that are covered by the rubrail. Different screws than the ones that hold the rubrail on. When i redid my boat i added some 5200 in a few spots where there were gaps. I also went around and redid all of the screws. I put 5200 in the screw hole and then reinserted screws. I haven’t had any issues since then. Hopefully that helps. If you have any other questions I will try my best to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polliwog Posted October 17, 2020 Report Share Posted October 17, 2020 With that amount of water coming out it looks like you went through to the bilge. Were there any cracks in the hull at the keel? Hmmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.