Swim Platform Repair after Storm

[Leprechaun]

Some days are definitely better than others, in most things, but especially when it comes to boat ownership.

Just to recap - I first posted this "event" in Darth's thread on his "furry friends" repairs:

The story is that my hauler did me a favor and got me out the day of last December's big snowstorm. Literally, hours before. So when I got to the ramp it was gusting over 45 kts. As I put her alongside the floater a huge blast of wind caught the stern, and swept it across the ramp before I could drop the dock line I was intending to make fast, and get back to the throttle and helm - slamming my stern into the bulkheading across the narrow ramp entrance. The result was a nasty crack in the starboard rear corner of the swim platform. Grrrrr, sometimes it sux to be me.

See here:

Underside:

Nice, Huh? Luckily, the damage was a little low on the platform's edge, sparing me having to do a gelcoat match on the top surface. So after marinating on this repair all Winter, I went ahead with my original plan - clean up the damaged area, doing as little further harm as possible. Grind the underside just a tad to even it up - flush with Acetone and then auto brake cleaner, fill with PC11 epoxy, sand and build a "bumper" out of 1/2" Starboard.

Here is the PC11 roughly filling the damaged area - I used my finger and stiffest putty knife to really push it up into the bottom crack/void. She's getting healthy, a little at a time.

Here is that corner sanded flush, and smoothed with 120/320/1000-grit. Already looking pretty fair. "But wait, there's more!"

Now on to the the fab'ing of a "bumper" for each rear corner of the platform. Here's the raw material - what's left of a larger sheet of Starboard that my good friend Capt. Rick Smith gifted to me, many moons ago - I think we both had much more hair back then (at least I did - his hairline still looks very acceptable ) - hey, it was a looong time ago.

Rick is one of the best guys I've known in my boating life, always willing to help, and very generous with both his time and raw materials from his custom sign shop. If you've never sailed with Capt. Rick on his gorgeous Downeaster "Miss Beryl," I strongly encourage you to consider doing so - you will NEVER find a more dedicated bottom fishing Captain. He's as good as it gets.

So the process I came up with is to cut two 12"x1.25" pieces of the Starboard, and then using my handy-dandy Ace Hardware heat gun, bend them to the correct curve of the platform's corners.

Tracing a corner on stiff cardboard gave me the proper dimensioning:

 

[Leprechaun]

Next, using the cardboard as a template, we (my boss and I) constructed a plywood "jig" to maintain the correct curve of the Starboard, after heating it REALLY hot with the heat gun.

Ended up working like a charm. It should have, as I had the whole Winter to think up this solution.

Here is the formerly damaged corner with its custom bumper installed with 4 x #10 SS screws and a thick slather of GE Marine Silicone. Some spot touch-up of the sealer over the screw heads tidied it up a bit more.

And here's the other corner, with its bumper installed:

A little final sanding of the Starboard to knock off the hard corners, and "Job Complete!"

A couple of thoughts - first, I agonized over what type of sealer to use. Do I use 3M 5200 for a permanent repair? Or maybe 3M 4000, for its UV resistance? Or just go with good old high-grade Silicone Sealer?

Believe me, I spent a ton of time reading 3M's literature before choosing what I did. Knowing that no readily-available adhesive/sealer will give a long-term bond to any HDPE/UHMW plastic surface, I do realize that I may have to perform a reseal once in a while. But in this case, the Silicone is more of a gasket than an adhesive - I wanted to keep water out of the 4 screw holes in each corner, and I think Silicone is as good an answer to that issue as anything else.

I figure that the Silicone is the least difficult to take apart, should I have to replace the Starboard strip(s) down the road. Plus, I've had good success with GE's "Marine" version, for many seasons. I guess there's more than one way to skin this cat, but I'm comfortable with my adhesive/sealer selection and with how the job turned out.

The other little surprise was that thought the lip of the platform is indeed 1.25" tall, the core of the platform is 3/4" marine ply, and with its fiberglass skins it tops out at a bit more than 7/8", or so. This meant that I couldn't center up the screws in the bumpers - as they would half miss the core, and that of course, wouldn't be good. So I had to offset the screws upward, which offends my sense of proportion just a bit, but there was no other choice. Oh well, I'll just have to live with it.

This completes all the nitty-gritty jobs I had on my Spring "to-do" list. Next weekend I'll pull off the shrink and begin the wash/wax/bottom paint dance. Shooting for the weekend before Memorial Day for splashing - we'll see how THAT goes.

 

[longcast]

Good looking repair, Lep!

 

[Bassman909]

Looks great PETE

 

[captmike28]

Obviously you put a lot of thought and effort into this repair but the final result looks like it was worth it.

 

[live bait]

Looks great Pete, I admire your work, your Shamrock is lucky to have you looking after her.
John

 

[Old Mud]

Nice looking repair Pete, And documentation. Good choice on the silicone also. With that platform stuck out there like they are they are more vulnerable than one would think. You did it right imo.
And that is why it coast so much to repair boats.

 

[BennyV]

Nice work Pete!