56 Atom Skier bow keel glass nose removal

John,
The colloidal silica is a good filler for epoxy but understand it's more for strength than fairing since it doesn't sand easy. I keep a supply around for projects.

On the log, the problem will be the area has seen oil so epoxy isn't going to soak in very well. Sand the area down to wood and take a look. Were the screws pretty tight? If anything, I'd CPES the area and the screw holes. The strong solvents in the CPES cut through the oil and you end up with some strengthening. Then no on the 5200. 5200 can be removed with heat but going with 4200 would make removal easy if you ever have to.

Using the West Epoxy Resin, slow hardener, and the Collodial Silica filler. Experimenting with the thickness mixtures to get a good smooth finish. Thanks for the intel on the roping...now I feel like I should shove it back in so it "stays original"

Another question: I pulled the log and rudder hardware. Do I use 5200 when I reset them?

Update on the stem repair project:
Removed the rest of the keel face in one piece (correct name?) Inspected stem and keel and no rot present in stem or keel.


Epoxied the stem face section back into place


Noted the fracture, at the( bolt hole area) that I assume occurred with a grounding strike.


Noted the cut in the keel face of the original repair, then it was "previously" caped in glass


Noted the use of cotton twine as a gap filler, was this CC original or another fix it


Next step is to reattach the keel face with a sealant/caulk. I need recommendations on this. 3M 5200?

John,
The stem has delaminated. Very typical of the era. Sorry to say but the fiberglass was and is a true back yard hack job. I would say it's very likely the damage to the stem goes deeper than you think and a very good chance there's rot too.. A proper repair is to open up the stem area by unscrewing the ply and then replacing the stem. If you have looked at other threads about CC ply boats of the era, you will find they all have the problem.