Best way to fix hole in hull

[deepsushi]

With the nice weekend up here on the Cape I was crawling around my 18 hull making a punch list of things to do once the weather warms up.

I found a 1/4 hole that had been drilled through the hull in the stern out through one of the chines. Can I just thicken up some epoxy and place a piece of tape on the outside and fill the hole with epoxy? Or do I need to strengthen the repair using some cloth?

Also, whats the best method / hardware to replace the thruhull drains in both the livewell and forward fish boxes?
The forward fish box has a P.O.S marelon thruhull in it and the livewell just has a hole through the well and hull that gets a drain plug.

[natchalkley]

I wouldnt do it like that. the thing is that if the hull flexes there, then you run the risk of having the epoxy crack and fall out and then you have serious problems. at the very least I would put a piece of cloth over it.
If you want to do it right then you need to grind it out and give it a good ~1:12 bevel, and lay up a few layers that get progressively larger as you go out.
If its not an area that sees a lot of wear and tear from beaching/ trailering, then you probably dont need to do the super fix, just a layer of cloth on the inside and outside.

[billythekid]

1/4 is small it is tough without a pic. I would get a plastic syringe and inject some epoxy cabosil mix and sand smooth.