This time of year we usually get quite a few calls from boat owners whose boats have suffered winter damage. Here’s a good example; this Whitehall blew off a dock and was pounded on a lee shore in Puget Sound for hours before being recovered. It has a Kevlar / composite hull so we wanted to repair the core without affecting the exterior strakes.
Here’s a look at the damage:
We cut out the interior floor above the core and then removed the damaged core without touching the hull exterior.
Once that was done its a relatively simple procedure to remove the old core, install new core and laminate a new interior floor.
Finally the exterior is patched and repaired, ready for another 15 years of service.
Of course every repair is different and the cost depends on complexity. This example cost about $1000, but most of that was covered by the owner’s insurance.
It’s always best to prevent damage in the first place by protecting it from the weather, but one of the good things about the way we craft our fiberglass hulls is that they are very repairable!