split in floor of mirror: how best to repair?

New forum member, new mirror owner....

I hope I haven't bought a bad boat. Just taken delivery of a Mirror, 63000ish. There is a split in the floor of the cockpit which I did know about. Probably 18 inches long. I don't think there is any water in the plywood as it's not soft, but there is a corresponding split on the underside which makes me think the ply has split right through. The paint has been taken back before by the looks of things, so perhaps there has been a previous repair. On the inside, the split is half way between the floor batten and the side bouyancy tank.

I'm hoping there is someone here who can advise me:

Can I buy some fibreglass tape and epoxy resin and simply stick some inside over the split, fill and paint the outside?

Do I need to do more such as patch with some new ply?

I presume I need to take the varnish and paint back to wood before gluing/ epoxying?

How does one do this most easily? Sandpaper? Paint remover? Electric sander (which I don't own)?

thanks in advance!

Dave

Dave.
It looks from the photo of the inside that water has not been let to enter the wood so thats good. It would be black along the crack if it had.
To fix I would probably take both inside and outside back to bare wood. Paint stripper, sandpaper and lots of hard work I'm afraid. But it must be clean bare wood before laying epoxy.The inside crack is not realy bad and a strip of woven glass tape epoxied over the area should cover that. Rub down the edges when cured and once varnished it eill hardly be noticable. The outside looks a little more serious but you won't know the full extent untill you get the paint off. If the wood under the paint is in good condition and not showing any signs of rot, then epoxy and tape will make a strong repair, any minor dents were the ply has delaminated along the edge of the cracked area can be made good with epoxy filler.


Bob.T

Thanks, Bob

I'll make a start with the sanding. Is there a optimum choice of electric sander?

Dave