We just had another Southwind in our shop with hull repairs, this one was taking on water from an old keel repair that had let go. Once we put this boat up on work stands the repair was ground back which revealed a large area. What we found was that the old repair wasn’t fully set and was still rubbery causing it to delaminate. The repair had been done using polyester resin which we don’t recommend, it has very low secondary bonding and structural characteristics compared with epoxy. As often can happen, there was water leaking from the inside of the hull and made it impossible to start the glassing. Hoping it would dry out in time, we were forced to cut out the bottom of the kill locker inside which gave us access to dry out the hull. Once dry the repair was laid up with glass layers and epoxy, then filled and faired to original shape. The kill locker floor was also glassed back in and all areas were refinished. The owner requested to give the boat a top to bottom make-over which consisted of replacing a number of rusty fasteners, a handful of gelcoat repairs, an acid wash and total polish of the gelcoat. Below the gunnel the gelcoat condition was still reasonable however above gunnel the gelcoat was very flat and patchy so was was in real need of attention. With a well earned ‘birthday’ this boat is leak-free and looking tip top once again!