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Potomac Boatcraft

Repair, renovation, maintenance and makeovers of new, recent, and classic old boats

21/08/2026

Finished the layup for a fiberglass panel to replace a piece of cracked plexiglass. Fiberglass panels require a dead flat impermeable working surface that, importantly, the resin won’t bond with. There are several ways to do this, often involving several rounds of carnauba wax followed by mold release. This was my first time using mylar sheet, and it worked fantastic! Much easier setup, perfect release, and I even got a passable glossy finish. And I can probably reuse the mylar next time.

15/07/2026

Refurbishing old, weathered bright work is often a challenge, especially when unknown finishes are involved. You never know how the wood will take the new finish. These companionway doors were heavily weathered and probably covered at some point with Sikkens Cetol or something like like that. I had to sand them back twice over to get out whatever oils were rejecting the varnish. But the end result was worth the extra effort.

14/07/2026

Dear Auto Correct: "bimini" is a word. I don't sew bikinis. Stop correcting me.

20/06/2026

First repair on a large headsail! The leech edge on my 130 jib had frayed and the spreader patch was disintegrating. Removed what was left of the old patch, sewed new Dacron sections over the frayed edge, and applied a new spreader patch over the whole section (both sides of course). Excited to see how this works!

17/06/2026

This photo journal is a follow up to a previous post and pretty well documents an unfortunately common houseboat deck repair. The red box in the first photo shows the area that initially felt and sounded “soft” which always means the decking and often portions of the joists have rotted. The actual area needing repair is usually much larger. I cut out the rot and replace with marine grade wood and s/s fasteners (the original is rarely marine grade). Then seal, fiberglass and paint. Much better!

25/05/2026

Mending the leech and replacing spreader patches. This is what it looks like when your headsail is twice the size of your sail loft (aka living room) 🤣

19/05/2026

98 degrees air temperature, 133 degrees substrate temperature. I can confirm that epoxy cures very quickly in these conditions

05/05/2026

is one of my favorite suppliers. A client shattered a sliding window on her Carver Mariner. OD provided a perfect replacement, and it looks better than new. Another win!

26/04/2026

This lovely brand new kayak sustained some unfortunate cosmetic damage during shipping: chunks missing from both the bow and stern. Filled with thickened epoxy matching the color as closely as possible and covered with a bit of fiberglass for reinforcement. A few coats of varnish later: voila!

16/04/2026

A few scenes from this week’s 2-day spring prep of Miss Daisy. Lots of varnish and goose diplomacy. Almost time to go sailing!

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1406 Mount Vernon Avenue

22301

Website

http://potomacboatcraft.com/

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