Keel repair help.

[Reefdonkey]

I had a horrible day on the water and ran over some concrete just below the water line. It took the keel guard off and left me with two spots like this (about 3.5 feet).

I was quoted $1,400 to fix and $1,850 total with a new keel guard installed.

Is this something that I can fix with 3m marine filler?

 

[Ilmmct]

@Reefdonkey sorry this happened to you. It is kind of hard to tell how deep the gouges are from the pictures. But fortunately whether you go a DIY route using a product like MarineTex and/or your own attempts with fiberglassing a perfection finish is likely not necessary. It looks like the KeelGuard will cover most of the potential DIY foibles with fiberglass and/or MarineTex.

I recently brought a 20-year old rowboat back to life and had to give fiberglassing and MarineTex a go for my 1st time. Provided you are not looking for perfection, these materials are not too hard to work with if you self-educate beforehand with YouTube.

Since you are doing this on the underside you will have gravity working against you, so thin applications and multiple “coats” will be best for structural integrity and ease of application while gravity challenged.