Thread: Glassing the skeg

Don't worry about the strength issue, it's strong enough as designed. The best choice is to 'glass the hull from rail to rail before the skeg goes on. The skeg is a consumable item, designed to take a beating and get replaced as needed. If you 'glass it to the hull shell, this will be much more troublesome. Bed the skeg in polysulfide or suitable then attach per the plans (lags, through bolts, etc.) It's a good idea to use a half oval on the bottom of the skeg to protect it when you bash into stuff, like trailer frames, rocks, etc.

The same would be true of other bottom rub strips or chine strips. These go on after you 'glass the hull, again because they're designed to be replaced every so often.

Check out previous threads here with the search tool. "glass work has been covered many times. Also have a look at Mik's site for lots of information about fooling with epoxy, making joints, 'glassing stuff, etc.

Originally Posted by PAR

Don't worry about the strength issue, it's strong enough as designed. The best choice is to 'glass the hull from rail to rail before the skeg goes on. The skeg is a consumable item, designed to take a beating and get replaced as needed. If you 'glass it to the hull shell, this will be much more troublesome. Bed the skeg in polysulfide or suitable then attach per the plans (lags, through bolts, etc.) It's a good idea to use a half oval on the bottom of the skeg to protect it when you bash into stuff, like trailer frames, rocks, etc.

The same would be true of other bottom rub strips or chine strips. These go on after you 'glass the hull, again because they're designed to be replaced every so often.

Check out previous threads here with the search tool. "glass work has been covered many times. Also have a look at Mik's site for lots of information about fooling with epoxy, making joints, 'glassing stuff, etc.

Yeah thanks PAR. I was actually reading Mik's glassing stuff and that is what brought up the question.

I glassed the hull, epoxied the skeg to the hull with some large fillets, then installed the thru-bolts with sealant. So if the skeg ever needs replacing (I doubt it will), I can easily remove the bolts and then saw through the epoxy joint. I also added a metal strip as par suggests.

Howdy,

The fasteners in sealant is an excellent choice.

Another way of doing a skeg for racing besides the metal strip is to build up some layers of fibreglass along the edge. A bit less drag.

A neat method is almost like a metal strip - but make up a glass lamination of about 3 or 4mm thick on a piece of plastic on a table top. Cut to shape and glue onto the skeg. Round it off and put a glass tape over the top.

One place I've seen it used was on keel to rudder fairings for a 5.5 metre class yacht.

It is a neat method that avoids fastenings from the outside of the boat through the epoxy coating, it can be made any shape and size - particularly in these days when metal strips are disappearing out of inventories.

The pics are the strip being made up - trimmed to width but not docked to length.

The second is the strip in place - see the whitish stripe on the hull just in front of the rudder.

Look how nicely it fairs in and it is much more secure glued with epoxy than using a few screws.

There is a place for metal strip too ... but this is an alternative.

The keel looks weird because the ballast is not in place yet.

Michael Storer

Other skeg protection techniques include:

Epoxy saturated single braid polyester rope embedded into a shallow groove (works great and what I do on the leading edge of foils, blades, etc.).

HDPE or other high modulus plastic, set in a groove (dove tail) and used as a sacrificial strip with great self lubricating properties.

G-10 laminated, glued, bedded or set in a groove.