Repairing the Otter
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Part I
Well, I'm back and doing
a repair to the Otter. The day after I launched her I took her to
Hinkson Slough to go fishing. After I was done I returned to the
gravel ramp and beached her and then stepped out onto the ramp. That's
when I heard a cracking sound. The next morning I inspected the hull and
sure enough the epoxy on the outside of the hull had cracked and
probably the wood underneath. The crack is between the front seat and
middle seat on the starboard side and maybe 6 inches long. I can only
assume; a: I need to lose weight and; b: this area wasn't well supported
by water and/or land and gave way.
Its hard to see, but the crack is
in the yellow circles. The white streaks are superficial
scratching and scuffing of the paint.
Besides being really
pissed off, I want to fix this and prevent it from happening
again. I have mentioned several times that the plywood I used was
questionable, a mistake I will never make again. There was
probably a void in the interior lamination and I paid for it. To
fix this I will need to sand the paint and primer off and apply
fiberglass cloth to the outside hull and interior floor areas.
This should make the Otter bulletproof.
One thing I will be sure
to do is apply the epoxy as carefully as possible, avoiding the long
fairing and sanding step. This is not a high speed boat and the
bottom will get scratched and scuffed anyway, so I will settle for a
less than perfect bottom. Hell, you can't see it anyway, the
bottom is in the water. Strength is my priority.
