Hi LionMarshel,

Technically you do not have to do anything at all. The boat should have been epoxied or glassed when it was built but as long as the wood is covered by a waterproof paint or sealer it should be ok. Epoxy and glass will seal and protect the wood from moisture as well as gives the boat a “prettier” finish if it is properly sanded. If you think the boat looks fine & don’t care if it lasts 20 years or how well the paint looks then don’t worry about it. Most RTR boats last only a few seasons before they are thrown away anyway. The builder likely didn’t have long term plans for the boat but wanted a Dauntless to run in the “now” so he didn’t bother with all the extra work associated with glassing or epoxying everything.

If you want to overhaul the boat and do it correctly it will take a lot of time but will be best for the boat in the long term. If glassing or epoxying the boat is important to you then the best thing to do is sand the boat to the wood, glass or epoxy the entire hull and cabins, sand everything smooth and repaint it. I found that glassing isfaster than using epoxy because epoxy takes a lot more time to smooth out than glassing does. So it may seem like more work initially but will be faster later on when you get to the dreadful sanding part. There will be differing opinions on this but this is what I found by doing both. I believe in spending less time on sanding and more time on other things is the way to go. If you decide to glass it then use a thin glass cloth that can be found at tower hobbies. If you are going to glass it I will get back to you with the weight of cloth that Dumas suggests unless you already have that info. Some people have also used automotive bondo on the hulls but it does add more weight then the aformentioned. Both bondo and fiberglassing smells a lot stronger than epoxy when it is being applied. (If that makes any difference to you)

Whether you decide to glass/epoxy/bondo it or not an easy way to make the interior water resistant is by using polyurethane or any good wood sealerfor the entire interior. Use a paint brush to paint all of the exposed wood so that when water does get in it can be wiped away without it soaking into the wood.

I have a question though, if he didn’t glass or epoxy the hull then what did he use? The bottom planks do not line up so something had to be done to fill in the gaps in order to make it seaworthy. Also, what kind of glue did he use to join the wood?

Can you post some pictures of your boat? I would like to see what you see.



-Rich.