Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated Paperback – March 10, 2010

An excellent book with accurate descriptions and good photos showing how to repair fiberglass, gel coat, etc. Give me the confidence to proceed with the project at hand. If you need to repair fiberglass, this is a good reference.

Probably the best, most conclusive fiberglass repair book I have seen. I like it because it talks about modern materials and techniques. Also makes suggestions. Even covers vaccum bagging.

I like this book it insight is on core, fiberglass,and procedger. What tools and materal to use covers gelcoating and painting with a brush and paint roller, and a lot more. This Book and a Book called " THE ELEMENTS OF BOAT STRENGTH" By: DAVID GERR, is great collection of all the Books you would ever need for do it yourselfers!PS: I Give both books above in my review 6 STARS EACHthe reson i wrote it in" 4 stars is so that you can not miss 2 Great books and The Elements of Boat Strength is infact an Engeneering book with illistrations and formulas like your boats SN# or Scantling Number Rule.Thanks for looking at my review, now have fun working on your Dream Boat! And remember safety first!!

I recently purchased an old Lund tri-hull boat. It is good condition but needed some typical repairs to make it like new. This is my first attempt at repairing and painting a fiberglass boat. I wanted to make some modifications as well while I am at it.I really enjoyed the brief description of how fiberglass boats are built. I also appreciated having sections dedicated to minor repairs as well as major repairs. The safety tips are critical and well explained. The pros and cons of different materials is also well explained in the book.The book is easy to read. I would highly recommend this to anyone new to boat building or fiberglass repair. Those who are more experienced will find the book useful, but somewhat lacking in detail. For me and my project the book is just perfect. I have read it and reread it every step of the way. It has increased my confidence to do things I have never done before. While my boat is not yet 100% complete, the results so far look as though they were professionally done. I couldn't be happier with the results from what I learned.I expect that when my "brand new" tri-hull hits the water in the spring, it will have the experienced boaters saying "wow, I didn't realize Lund was still making new fiberglass tri-hulls?"

I think this will be a good book to have as a reference once I actually start work on my boat. I have done minor repairs in the past with fiberglass, and have not been very pleased with the final results. I bought this more as a comprehensive guide to the process, and have been very pleased as I have read it.

I am re-storing an old fiberglass powerboat and I bought this book to learn how to do some repair work, finishing work, etc. I was particularly drawn to the "illustrated" aspect in the title because I am more of a visual learner. There's no doubt that Mr. Marshall is an expert in his field and I highly respect his knowledge, but I found this book to be poorly organized, poorly illustrated, and not very helpful. Don't get me wrong, I know more about fiberglass than I did before and how boats are built, but I really didn't learn much about how to actually use it. I was particularly disappointed in the lack of non-photographic illustrations. Photos of people (primarily his sons) doing work is not the same thing as what a scarf should look like, or how to layer mats and fabric, etc. using detailed drawn illustrations and graphics. I did learn more about different types of glass material, resins, etc., but this book just wasn't what I was expecting. It is also heavily centered on sailboats (Mr. Marshall is an expert sail boat builder), so if that's what you need then you should buy this book. If your'e a powerboat person or really want a more granular understanding of how to fiberglass and repair or re-build in multiple types of situations than I recommend looking elsewhere. I learned a lot more about what I need to know by reading through the tutorial manuals on West System's website. This is not a plug for West Systems, they just have a very educational website. The techniques they illustrate apply to any manufacturer, but it is centered on epoxy resin (essentially the same techniques when using polyester though). I didn't know about these tutorials until after I bought this book, which I learned about viewing YouTube videos by Boatworks...which are fantastic and I highly recommend. Andy Miller at Boatworks is very good at his craft and he does a great job explaining how to do a variety of glass related work. I don't mean this as a promo for Boatworks or West Systems, I'm just letting you know where I learned what I really needed to know.

I bought this book hoping to pick up a few pointers as I have a number of projects to do on my boat. My last fiberglassing project looked more like cottage cheese than fiberglass. Instead of just picking specific topics, I read the whole book. It has been helpful in the projects I've taken on so far. It has helped me improve the work that I'm doing. My stuff is no where nearly as nice as his, but this book really has helped develop knowledge and confidence.This book does cover both resin and epoxy, and how and when to use each. I found the section on fairing the keel very interesting.Normally you don't read one of these types of books, you just use it for reference. This one you read, a very pleasant change. Buy this, read it and use the knowledge.

Part of gift to a friend who loves working on his boat and still loves BOOKS