Jib Sail Track Project (Part II)

Welcome to Part II of our Jib Sail Track Project. If you haven't read Part I of this project, click here.

After several weeks of trying to dry out the jib sail track (really hard to do during the wet season), Alex had to fill it with fiberglass and foam. Here's what he did.. (Fair warning: lots of photos)

Measuring the size in order to cut the fiberglass sheets

Once the fiberglass sheets were cut, he applies a layer of epoxy

Then sprinkles loose fiberglass to even out the base

Time consuming work but necessary

Next, he applies the cut out fiberglass sheet

And wets it out fully with epoxy

And the process is repeated

For 2 layers of fiberglass

Looks pretty good actually - the secret is having everything prepared in advance

This was then left to cure completely for a couple of days before sanding.

With a nice, flat reinforced base. Alex had to measure and cut out the foam to fill the cavity. We decided to make it slightly raised from the deck, so that water will not sit under the actual jib track once its back in place.

Look at that

Carefully measured, cut and marked for each of the 4 sections the repair was divided into

Foam pieces for each section

He even made a contraption to allow the foam to be sanded to an even height

The foam epoxied into place

Letting it dry

Filled in the gaps between the sections

Built a little dam around the edges with sikaflex & scrap foam, so that the epoxy will not run onto the rest of the deck when we added 3 more layers of fiberglass to the top

Shit happens when..

Something you can't control ruins your work (Alex was not happy! and neither was this guy)

Sanded and ready to be repainted

There you have it. The jib sail track surface ready for gelcoat.

Check out our post on Spray Painting Our Deck