Gunnel rod holder repair ideas ?
 

The V21 features the white fiberglass ( or is it plastic) horizontal rod storage port and starboard sides.

How best to repair a few cracks ( thanks to last person to work on my boat ) such as where the screws were over tightened and broke the mold ?

I removed the entire section while running the wires for the trim tabs so I can repair this now.

What type of compound / epoxy etc would set up nicely and not crack easily ?

They're plastic. I reinforced mine with fiberglass and painted it with Krylon spray paint made for plastics.

permatex and others make a 2 part "plastic welding system" basically a black double barrel syringe. You squeeze it out and mix it just like 5 minute epoxy... It works better than anything else I ever tried on plastic... you can kill the cracks with a tiny drill bit, drilling each end of each crack. You can use thin glass cloth to reinforce if needed.

Actually now that I think about it... the rod boxes are not repairable... they're junk..... if you'll send em to me I'll see that they are disposed of properly lol

that's exactly how i did mine.they turned our pretty nice and the fix was alot cheaper than buying replacements.

i also repaired mine with fiberglass and some 2" tape. I also put a thin strip of pressure treated pine around the inside of the cut out in the hull. this gave the boxes a little more "meat" to screw to.

In 13 years of V20 ownership, this '84 is my first time dealing w/factory, wellcraft rod holders...mine were mounted inside the cutout w/teak on the outside as trim...so the expectation is for the small screws going thru the thin plastic will hold up over time and punishment...I don't believe this to be a realistic expectation...if yer gonna remount the inserts inside the cutout, behind the plastic rod holder flange is where reinforcement is sorely needed IMO...the treated wood Phat mentioned would be ideal...

These plastic gunnel rod holders dry out after years, no matter how well maintained.

Then, a marine mechanic must have used a screw gun and busted a corner off the plastic and cracked a few other spots by over tightening.

So, I just removed the panels and added this to my list of things to do.
I picked up some product at Lowe's that may work out.

Wellcraft could have / should have used a more substantial material for this fixtures.
They were obviously taking more and more " cost out of the boat " as the years went on.

It's our job to repair and replace things to make it better than original.
Better, stronger, faster.........

You can always buy new ones from Flounder Pounder...in our Links section...

wellcraft did a much better job on rod boxes than dodge did on dashboards. gotta remember we are talking about 30 years old boats that are , far the most part, totally exposed to the elements.

rod boxes
 

i found this product a Lowes calle Plastic welder. its a double cilinder seringe type deal. i used it on my big MK tile saw tray that came back from a friend looking like it had been through a war. whatelse is new rite . anyway It worked great ! i let water sit in the saw tray for 3 days , no leaks and the cutoff tile pieces falling on it are not a problem. so i guess now i'll try it on my rod boxes. but i do have one hole in the corner can i tape that from the back and if so what do i do with the front, Bondo ?

no just use the plastic weld to fill it. sand it smooth...... I've been fixing all sorts of plastic with that stuff for years.

rod boxes
 

thats funny, i found out how to remove the line, not really a computer savy guy

I got a '77 cc last month that didn't come with rod boxes. So I have to make them. So far not really that difficult. I am using 1/2" mdo ply. Made a radius on the inside edges with west system with 410 filler so they are easy to clean. Finishing with britside off white. Then making new teak trim to finish. You might as well improve the design by making a box that don't crack,flex and has more meat to mount to. I can post pics as I get to finish. Trying post pics but not going so well. Seems that snapfish don't work with iPad. Any thoughts.http://[IMG]http://i668.photobuc...t/00025241.jpg[/IMG]
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/v...h_00025241.jpg
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/v...h_c795f353.jpg
http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/v...h_a85702ec.jpg

rod boxes
 

Johnsonboat, you are doing a real nice job, they look great !

Johnsonboat that's some nice work...I'm probably missing something, but shouldn't the corner radius be on the outside of the mold since the inside of the rod box is what shows?....like I said, I'm probably missing something here...:head:

I don't think it's a mold. It looks like he's building a wooden rod box.

Yes it's not mold. Don't have the skills for that. I wish I I was confident enough to do a mold.

Johnsonboat, The mold is the easiest part of the job , you just build a box. Checkout the thread " Once again i must ask the v20 gods" In general

wellcraftvstep, thats great info. This site is really helpful. I wish I would have thought of doing a mold from the begining but at this point after already buying way too much interlux products to paint the boxes i can't afford to revert to gelcoat. I'm learning the hard way I guess. And most important, want to get this boat done before spring striper run.

you can paint glass too

Johnsonboat, i'd bet you can sell the left over paint to someone on this board , if i were closer i would buy it in a minute for my rod boxes. How much was it i will need some next week

I think I have a set of rod boxes out of a 79' Cuddy in my parents garage. I don't remember what kind of shape their in. Let me know if anyone is interested and I'll check.

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread. So tell me if I am, I'm new to posting on boards.
Stepv, I have Interlux briteside off white and prekote primer as well as epoxy primekote primer. Really dont need to get rid of it but if you need some you are welcome to get it west marine has it if not. What a p.i.a. Finding out after getting prekote, that it won't cure ouer the epoxy corners. Guess I should have consulted with the v20 pros.

wow that stinks, hope i remember that when i do my rod boxes

Plastic gunnel panels on my 96' V21 - 16 years old.

Removed both, patched the couple of spots with epoxy two part hardener, sanded, painted, re installed. Looks fine, and pleased to see - dry behind both panels.

I'm interested.... shoot me a pm with details.... THANX

Rod Holders
 

Great job bro! Mine are shot. Going to reinforce mine with fiberglass and reinstall with treated wood inserts for support.

Rod Holders
 

The original wood is shot so im gonna custom make some out of cedar to give it an extra flare! :) Will port pics before during and after. Going to be a wile tho, :( , were working long hours.

That looks fantastic....need to do mine...or just turn that area into something else entirely....thinking outside the box..

You could just get a sheet of 1/4" starboard or similar material and just cover the openings.

I have bookmarked this thread! :beer: Great info fellas!
My '94 V21 inserts are cracked in a few spots and looking rough. Thanks to this thread I know exactly how to fix them up new, :sly:

I had the same issue on mine. The interior corners were weak and brittle or had holes and 3 of the exterior edges were completely broken off and gone. I used fiberglass, and redid every single interior corner, and built up new edges for each one. They are all currently sanded down and waiting for me to paint them. I will be doing that this weekend and will throw some pics on once I reinstall them. They look reaaaaal nice now though. And super strong in every corner.