This Sidewinder ski boat had some serious hull problems that had been repaired before but kept breaking. The owner asked us to fix it once and for all! Upon inspection it became apparent that the rear mounted engine beds ended abruptly at a partial hull bulkhead at the front of the engine bay which caused point loading in the hull. The engine bay area was very strong and rigid but didn’t blend through into the forward section of the hull skin. After putting the boat up on work stands, we could better identify the issue. Luckily in the engine bay there was just enough space to access a sealed section above the damaged hull which we cut into to carry out repairs. This meant that we could not only repair the hull skin from the inside but also install additional hull stiffeners to transfer the loads from the engine beds into the hull to avoid this happening again. We used Divinycell foam/epoxy wedged shaped stiffeners laid up with unidirectional glass laminations to assist in load transfer. Once the sections inside the engine bay were sealed up again, the underside of the hull was faired and painted to match. The owner was relieved to see the boat restored to its former glory and he can now use the boat with confidence.
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