Venture 23 Structure repair

[Richie_TheSailor]

The previous owner of my Venture 23 cut out a piece of the cabin doorframe to fit a keel winch that did not fit in the space below it. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to repair this?

[Wyb2]

Pictures will be a big help for people to understand the situation and provide advice.

But if you feel that structurally important fiberglass was cut away, the fix is most likely to bond in new fiberglass to replace it. If you’ve never done fiberglass, this might be a little intimidating. It’s not fundamentally difficult, but there is a bit of a learning curve and a little practice goes a long way. Once you’ve gathered all the materials, spending a weekend practicing on scrap is probably enough to tackle a structural repair on a small boat like this.

Cosmetics is a different animal. Getting a repair to look close to original cosmetically is something that eludes me. Probably because I’ve never cared enough to practice that part of it.

[NiceAft]

You Tube has videos on everything. Did you try exploring there?

Here’s an example.

[Richie_TheSailor]

Pictures will be a big help for people to understand the situation and provide advice.

But if you feel that structurally important fiberglass was cut away, the fix is most likely to bond in new fiberglass to replace it. If you’ve never done fiberglass, this might be a little intimidating. It’s not fundamentally difficult, but there is a bit of a learning curve and a little practice goes a long way. Once you’ve gathered all the materials, spending a weekend practicing on scrap is probably enough to tackle a structural repair on a small boat like this.

Cosmetics is a different animal. Getting a repair to look close to original cosmetically is something that eludes me. Probably because I’ve never cared enough to practice that part of it.

I’m new to the whole sailing thing so I’m not sure if it was critical or not but here is a picture of it.

[Wyb2]

I’m guessing you are talking about the relief in this area?

IMG_2868.jpeg

That doesn’t look concerning to me. Most of the structure will come from the vertical wall, the horizontal lip is really just to make to top of said wall more stable. I’d be more worried about the chipping/cracking on the one side. Depends what it looks like on the inside.