Hi Everyone,
Our centerboard slot found a way to get messed up and through a process of trial and error - we came up with a pretty good way to make simple repairs - or maybe more.
The resulting jig cost less than $10 and 20 minutes of time and did a really nice job.
It is a sheet of plexiglass, with a long stick for support on the bottom that is ~1 1/4" thick - and a 3/4" thick support along the top. There are little arms that hang over to keep it all from falling in.
We double stick taped the whole thing together.
Then we spray adhesive'd wax paper to the face. Turns out polyester resin sticks to plexiglass quite nicely.
Next is the good part:
If you are doing a big repair and using a lot of resin - you can add foam tape to the lower edge of the form to keep it all from oozing down the walls of the centerboard trunk. For small edge repairs it isn't really necessary. Using thin shimms - you tap them down to seal the lower edge the length of the jig. The upper edge is still flexible and you can pour resin in to fill gaps and cracks etc. We added wet fabric first, then added the form, then filled in the gap with resin. The old fairing work on our trunk all chipped out because they did not scuff up the surface and probably should have added some fabric for strength. Use thicker wedges to snug up the top edge.
Our slot was pretty straight so we didn't have to fiddle with it too much - the jig will flex some so try to wedge it so that it stays straight.
Once you get it all set up -
A little wax paper to keep the top smooth and tamp down the sticky mess...
This worked pretty nicely for a quick repair -
There may be better ways to do it.. But figured we would share