Keel & Strake Repair Kit for Fiberglass Boats - 10 Yards 1708 Tape + Epoxy

A keel and strake repair kit for small fiberglass boats: skiffs, square-stern canoes and other hulls with keels and strakes worn through to raw glass, cracks along the bottom, or chine damage. Ten yards of 1708 tape rebuilds the wear strips, and epoxy grips the old polyester laminate far better than more polyester would.

What is in the kit:

• 96 oz two-part epoxy kit: 64 oz thin clear resin plus 32 oz slow hardener, mixed 2 parts resin to 1 part hardener by volume
• 10 yards of 6" stitched 1708 fiberglass tape for keels, strakes, chines and long cracks
• 1 yard x 38" of 6 oz woven fiberglass cloth for hole patches and a finish layer over the worst runs
• 1 quart fumed silica thickener for structural putty in gouges and gaps
• 2 quarts white glass microspheres (glass bubbles) for a light fairing putty that sands easily
• Aluminum laminating roller, 1/2" x 4", to drive air out of the tape
• 2 chip brushes, 2 plastic spreaders, 4 graduated quart mixing tubs, wood stir sticks
• 2 N95 dust masks for grinding and sanding

You supply: nitrile gloves, a grinder or sander with 36 to 80 grit, sandpaper for fairing, acetone or denatured alcohol, and paint for the bottom.

How the repair works: strip loose paint and grind each damaged run back to clean glass. Fill deep gouges with silica-thickened epoxy, then lay 1708 tape along the keel or strake, wet it out and roll it down. Use two layers where the hull is worn through or cracked. Finish the keel or strake line itself with silica-thickened epoxy, which cures hard and takes wear, fair the flanks and tape edges with glass bubble putty, then sand and paint.

Coverage: 30 feet of 6" tape. That is about two layers down a 7 foot keel plus a single layer on two more 8 foot strakes, with epoxy left over for filling and fairing.

Finish with paint, not gelcoat: epoxy has no UV resistance on its own and gelcoat does not cure reliably over it, so prime and paint the repair.

Working time: 35 to 40 minutes of pot life at 80F with the slow hardener, long enough to wet out a full-length run of tape. Work at 70F or warmer; cooler than that, the cure can take 2 to 3 days.

For fiberglass hulls. Not for aluminum or polyethylene boats. A smaller patch on a kayak or canoe only needs the Kayak & Canoe Repair Kit; a soft transom is a core job for the Transom Repair Kit; and a wide area rather than a long narrow run wants the 50 inch wide 1708 in the 1708 Fiberglass Repair Kit.

Ships UPS or FedEx Ground to the lower 48. The fabric and the epoxy resin are not regulated for transport; the hardener bottle is a limited quantity corrosive, so the kit travels by ground and cannot go by air.