Long time lurker, first time poster. I recently bought a boat I’ve had my eye on for a few years now. 1998 Scarab 26’ 454. I’ve been around boats my whole life and I decided to pull the trigger and buy my first one.

I’ll cut to the chase as I value your time. When launching last weekend one of the bunks came loose, and the hull of my boat had a nice ride into the water on three open screws.

For some reason, I can’t post photos. But looks like wolverine clawed the side of my boat through the gelcoat down to the fibreglass.

Question 1. What is the best repair method for three scratches, 8 inches long through the gel coat down to the fibreglass? Moreso what repair methods/materials should I avoid.

Question 2. Can the fibreglass absorb water?

First off welcome! I am no fiberglass expert by any means but will say if you are down to bare fiberglass DO NOT put the boat in the water until fixed. Open glass is like a sponge. As for repairing...I will leave those suggestions to more experienced folks on here as I don't want to lead you in the wrong direction.

You have to have 10 posts to be able to post pics so you can do 9 more "dummy" posts on this thread and will be able to post pics. Just do numbers or whatever to get up to 10 posts. Good luck! Sorry about the damage been there done that never fun!!

There are some newer fillers out there that are waterproof and fair out nicely. Contact a local marina that does a lot of fiberglass repair. I just watched my repair guy do a friend's hull that had a couple road rashes from floatsem in the water. Turned out amazing! No resin, glass or auto fillers used. He color matched it perfectly. You cannot even see where he did it.