bad crack or nothing to worry about?

[f4igrad]

bought this boat for next to nothing, overall it is in great shape but the hull has this 14" long crack. It looks like it is in the paint, and when I push really hard around it the crack doesn't get any bigger. I have never put the boat in the water so I don't know if there is any leaking at all. It is a tri-hull boat and this is right where the hull curves. It is located under where the boat operator would sit. Is there something I can just apply to it to seal it up?<br /><br />

 

[Bondo]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

My 1st Impression is,.........<br /><br />That's a Bad Crack,.... In a Bad Place..........<br /><br />That''ll require Reinforcement from the Other Side..........

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

I assume I would have to cut away the floor from above. Would I just reinforce from the other side with wood and then reglass?

 

[fastwater]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Any crack or hole in fiberglass can be repaired.<br />You'll have to remove floor or whatever to get to the inside of the fiberglass,then roughen,grinder or belt sander,whatever you can get in with, and reinforce with cloth and resin in a few layers.<br />Definitly has to be repaired and reinforced from inside first then a little bit on outside to cover crack.<br />I fixed worse cracks that that with no problems afterward.

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

cool. the floor on the boat is very solid, does that mean I probably don't have rot problems? I guess I will be tearing into it tomorrow. Also, can I just cut away the floor over where the crack is and then patch the floor back in that spot? I really want to avoid removing the entire floor.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

You wont know what you have to do until you tear into it. That crack looks rotten. Rip out a section of floor and tell us what you see.

 

[jze1212]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Something had to have caused that tear... You have to get in there and find trhe root of the problem..

 

[G DANE]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

I've seen damage like that before, that was from boat getting filled with rain water, sitting on a roller trailer. That crack requires to be ground down to almost gel coat from the inside, and from line of crack ond out both sides, less and less material ground away, untill you are 4 inches from line of crack. When everything is dry and cleaned with acetone, you can lay up 6-7 layers of cloth with poly or epoxy, and hull will be as good as new. If you are REAL carefull when grinding, you are able to stop when you start to see gell coat thru poly, and you wont hurt outside, then you can finish by grinding crack with fint grith paper and fill it with marine tex from outside afterwards.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

sounds like a plan.

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

damn, well we lost our power last night and just got it back so I didn't have access to this forum. I figured i would go out and start working on the boat. I set the circular saw at 1/2" depth and cut out a section, but I had NO CLUE that the floor sat directly on the hull, I thought there had to be a bit of space between the two. The good news is that there is no water damage under the floor, the bad news is I have added a few cracks. So I guess I need to grind down a huge area around this part of the hull (from the inside) and then glass it? I'm an idiot, but at least I'm an idiot with a cheap boat.<br /><br />

<br /><br />

 

[garrett61]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

The deck also looks like it may be in some need of some love... <br />You are going to need a bigger cut than that also if you plan on grinding and sanding the entire damaged area..Good Luck

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

so how does it work, do i cut the deck where this is space underneath and then grind down the deck where it is mounted directly to the fiberglass hull? <br /><br />The deck is actually in good shape, what you are seeing above is a lot of sawdust as well as the remnants of the ugly brown floor that I pulled up.

 

[Bondo]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Originally posted by Bondo:<br /> My 1st Impression is,.........<br /><br />That's a Bad Crack,.... In a Bad Place..........<br />

Eeeewwww,.. Boy,........<br /><br />I was Wrong,......... It's a Really Bad Crack,..... It about the Worst Place Possible........<br /><br />You're going to need a Working Surface about 4" to 6" Out from the Crack, in All Directions........6" to 8" would be even Better....<br />With that area Rough Sanded,... I'd start building up some Epoxy,+ Fabric........<br />Then piece the floor back in.......

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

i just talked to the marina here and they said that Marine-Tek should take care of it without any real problem. I am thinking I might try that first to see how it works, and if it doesn't hold I will grind it down and then build it up with the fiberglass and epoxy.

 

[tommays]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Thats NOT what marine tex is for <br /><br />That crack is a boat sinker that needs to be fixed<br /><br /><br />tommays

 

[jch7450]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Was the guy at the marina the gas boy who told you to use Marine-Tek?<br /> you need cloth and resin

 

[CalicoKid]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

It looks to me like the crack is right at the joint where the floor and hull meet? The hull flexing over the edge of the floor likely caused that crack. Maybe the hull buildup was too thin there or the floor fit too tightly or there was an impact in the area.<br /><br />Caulk and glue isn't going to fix it. You could do all the work from the inside as explained above and there would be very little touching up on the outside to do, cosmetic only. I'd use nothing less than good epoxy and glass cloth on that repair.

 

[Solittle]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

Marine Tex is the best you can get for chips, gouges & the like. Your crack is structural & needs what the guys have recommended.

 

[epresutti]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

F4iGrad,<br /><br />My .02, that crack is on the chine (looks like), like Bondo said, that is a really bad place, lots of stress there. Give yourself a lot of room to fix that crack, 6" to 8" all around.<br /><br />That is a heavy stress point. Very important to make sure the structure is not compromised under loads (like bouncing over a wake).<br /><br />Just my thoughts.<br /><br />Peace.<br /><br />Ed.

 

[f4igrad]

Re: bad crack or nothing to worry about?

thanks a lot everyone, I fixed it yesterday and will be float testing the boat tomorrow. I put a LOT of layers of fiberglass on it, feels like concrete now so it is definitely reinforced.