Gel Coat / Bumper Replacement

[Dneon95]

I have lost my bumper twice now in the water (they don't float). $60 to replace it and I lost the second one this weekend, after I filled the holes and re-gel coated the area. It doesn't seem to be holding. It's hard to re-fill the holes, and then drill through them again and expect them to hold after they strip out. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fill the holes and get them to hold? I am very near fixing it and selling it, I am so frustrated. Bumper and Gel Coat work is not cheap, even when you do it yourself. Any help would be great!

 

[hypersniper2010]

use a flat washer on the back side of the long rivet if you can get to it and it will not back out and give more surface to grip to besides the fiberglass hull.
oh yeah and stop smashing into things and they wont fall off... lol J/K

 

[racerxxx]

X2, just like this.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

 

[hypersniper2010]

thanks racer for the visual backup

 

[Spimothy Leary]

yip, that's the trick ! I had to do that on my Yamaha, the rear bumper came loose twice, fortunately both times I happen to notice it before it came completely off.

 

[soccerdad]

If you only have a few to do, I have used small stainless screws, washers and locknuts. I think 8-32 or 6-32 size. This lets you tighten them to where you want them to be. For a bunch of them, the rivets and washers are the way to go. In this case, I would not worry about gel coat. It is brittle and will just break back out. Gelcotes only purpose is to make the surface pretty. It is not really structural. If you are fixing a torn out hole, you should be using regular polyester resin with some glass cloth reinforcement. You can get fiberglas repair kits in home depot with all the stuff you need. But if the hole is not too big, then the washers will work fine.