Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

[jonny rotten]

These are on either side of the bow.There's no damage to the boat,like chipping from impact.On one side the cracks are in a circular motion,about the size of a basketball,I thought that was a bit odd.I called Glastron and they said stress cracks are normal and have NOTHING to do with the structural integrity of the boat.Im concerned about coming down hard on a wave and taking on water,or sinking! Will I be alright?As the Glastron guy was a salesman,I thought Id ask some pros here

 

[89mercruiser]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

I would get an opinion from a certified shop that does that kind of work. Not sure where you're located but my folks used a local boat repair shop. To me thought that is not normal for having cracks like that. My dad's boat is an '89 Arrowglass and has no cracks like that in it.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

wow I've hit fiberglass HARD with a sledge hammer and not made hardly a mark in it..... My thoughts are either it's built poorly (doubt it with a glasstron) or been beat REALLY hard..... It may well be very safe to use for many many years but I'd have it looked at by a professional.
How old is this boat?

 

[Philster]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Not normal and your likely to get water behind the gel and in direct contact with the glass = bad news.

Present state = usable, but now prone to rapid deterioration. It gets unsafer every time it hits the water now.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Looks like 'OUCH' to me . . . not normal, signs of 'impact' more than 'stress'.

Water will penetrate those cracks, so it would be good to fix it.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Maybe buff those "cracks" with compound to try and get an idea of how deep or superficial they may be...who knows, maybe they buff out?...what you got to lose?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

These are on either side of the bow.There's no damage to the boat,like chipping from impact.On one side the cracks are in a circular motion,about the size of a basketball,I thought that was a bit odd.I called Glastron and they said stress cracks are normal and have NOTHING to do with the structural integrity of the boat.Im concerned about coming down hard on a wave and taking on water,or sinking! Will I be alright?As the Glastron guy was a salesman,I thought Id ask some pros here

Ayuh,... Looks like she Wacked a dock or something.... Hard....

I doubt it'll lead to an Instant Catastrophic Failure, but it'll leak, 'n degrade over time....

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

I agree it's from some impact with a hard object--not a wave. It won't punch all ther way through leaving a gaping hole while you are boating. Seal sand paint.

Could it be from freeze damage from wet foam/trapped water inside? I don't live where that's a problem so I can't say. I have also seen stress cracks from old glass sitting on a roller's edge, so maybe it was stored funny? What's the age and history of the hull?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Yeah, I'd have to agree that a log, dock, or bouy was hit pretty hard. No worry of sinking, but it isn't gonna be good if left untreated for a long time.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

We have a sailboat only marina near by. Every summer & fall, in upstate NY there are a couple of boats with hair line cracks in similar patterns. Almost all are in the foward 1/2 of the boats. They are repaired as soon as the strands underneath dry out to prevent water being in the glass fibres when freezing occurs. Looks terrible & fatal. But owners just re-gell coat & continue. Some said it is a mostly a 1 time thing. People who sail a lot with DEEP POCKETS. They were not too concerned.

Me ? I would be bugging someone why it happens. More importantly. How to prevent it from happening again, if possible.

My gut feeling is the fibreglass strands / cloth are just flexing from water loads. Someone saved a dollar or workers skipped a layer.

Cave in ? Would never guess on hull cracks in gell coats.
You have a tough call on those repaired cracks. The pictures do look like the repaired cracks on many sailboat hulls in the marina. Helped a friend rough the cracks in his sail last spring. Easy & quick repairs. When he finished smoothing the gell repairs, it looked like your pictures.

 

[oops!]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Ayuh,... Looks like she Wacked a dock or something.... Hard....

I doubt it'll lead to an Instant Catastrophic Failure, but it'll leak, 'n degrade over time....

This is correct ^^^^^

Im a pro....and that is a big whack.
This could be caused by hitting a trailer bunk while loading...improper trailering....beaching...impact....lots of reasons.

A couple of things here.....first...the boat wont sink....nore will it rip open and leave a gaping hole.....you will be fine.

However......if you live in the land of stiff water and snow, water will get behind the cracks...freeze ....and the condition will travel.

The proper repair is to grind off the gellcoat....and you will find the glass is cracked under the gellcoat.....the glass will be cracked in a far larger area that you can see on the surface.
the glass will need to be ground (ruff and scuff) and another layer of 1.5 csm applied over the area....then faired....then the gellcoat re applied.

The restoration forum is full of these simple gell coat repairs....just go down the list in the forum and you will see many simple gellcoat repairs like that.

I am not going to move this post to the proper "dry dock" (restoration forum) at this time due to the fact that a lot of people lurking the site will have this exact same problem....and may learn form it.

cheers
oops

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

jonny

I was able to enlarge the cracks to 400%.

Some look like mold or something is growing in a group of the cracks. Most look like fresh cracks.

You need a QUALIFIED Gell Coat person to advise you on the black ones. My guess is some more cloth layers on the inside of the hull in those stress areas. Still just guessing.

Can gell coat just crack? YES. Some glasses just keep getting harder & harder, untill they are almost like GLASS.

Rich

 

[oops!]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

cyc....mold around those impacts are normal......and a testament to water getting behind the gell.....that is why freeze will expand the cracks.

and lol....we were more or less typing at the same time......the repair you suggested is correct

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

oops

I Had noticed the circular rings clustered in one area. But was not that familiar with impacts on glass. All the Sails up here really have random linear stress cracks. more like runners in lake ice. So since You have seen them. banged. I agree with you completly.

I hope he is not going to need a whole section a many feet across to be replaced.
We did that on a medium Hydro plane. ALL the fibres were broken free of the glass " glue " around lots of fibres. Terrible Terrible long process by glass amaturers. We added overlapping layers with a 8" over lap on each old layer. 4 X 8" overlaps ALL AROUND is a BIG BIG patch job to us. It was almost a week to get the patch ready for painting.....................

Avoid the impacts is lots easier.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

We did it the difficult but hopefully stronger way due to racing stresses in heavy chop.

We laid 2 layers first on the inside to hold the shape of a compound curve. Then we ground out the broken up fibres & glass glue that was not solid anymore. Replaced it layer by layer only using cloth . Pre cut , put locating marks. We had 6 guys to drink beer, wine & Laugh at us.

Rich

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Re: "People who sail a lot with DEEP POCKETS. They were not too concerned."

Big water sailing is like standing in a cold shower tearing up $100 bills.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

I just have to say. This is NOT normal stress cracks. The op stated that the glasstron guy said that stress cracks were normal. I agree that some stress cracking can be normal to expect, but not to that extent. And imo there should be no stress cracking on the lower hull at all! There is definately an issue there and being on the bow, I would not trust it.

OP, if this is a newer boat, I would certainly take it to the glasstron people and have them look at it first hand. Also get yourself an independent repretable boat yard to give you there estimate of repairs and opinions. I would do that first before going to glasstron actually. This will give you some ammo probably.. Again, this is NOT normal cracking. If it is normal for glasstron, I am glad I have never owned on. My 22 year old boat doesn't have damage even close to that!

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

well, to be fair, maybe they aren't stress cracks and the Glastron guy is correct. A manufacturer is not responsible, nor concerned, about cracks from damage, and that is what a lot of us conclude they are. "Stress cracks" generally mean cracks that appear in the hull, transom or interior on their own, showing a weak spot, void or pocket in manufacture (if new) or structure from age, rot, etc. (if old).

Fiberglass boats with age, even a few years, may show harmless spider cracks, and older boats can be fine with stress cracks at high pressure points and joints (transom/deck, for example). In such a case the manufacturer can rightly shrug it off. What none of us know, is how old is the OP's boat? What is its history? Did he just buy a 20 year old boat, or is this his first season with a brand new one?

 

[oops!]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

Spider webbing in gelcoat.....commonly refered to as "crazing" has only a few causes.

1. Over catylization.....MEKP rates exceeding manufacturers specs of 1.7-.2.5%
2. Under catylization. MEKP mixture rates under spec....
3. Gelcoat to thick ....Pooling does happen in moulds low spots
4. Gellcoat to thin....Target thickness is of 35 thousands of an inch.
5. Stress or flexing of the fiberglass substraight.
6. Impact causing stress of flex of substraight....(there is a difference between flexing and impact flexing)

So....as you can see.....crazing is not normal....as the manufacturers would lead you to believe.

The rule of thumb when regarding gellcoat crazing warranty issues, is to tell the customer to expect some crazing after time. This covers thier bases. But is a fabrication. Sometimes a customer will go off the deep end about his hull crazing....on inspection...you will still see shards of concrete in the gellcoat where the coustomer has dragged the hull down the boat ramp and is calling it a manufacturers error.
So,,,,it is easier for the companys to say its normal than battle every nutcase out there.

Gellcoat is said by the companies to be cosmetic (this is debatable) but due to fact that the boat is rarely in jeprody of sinking with a few spiderwebs....the companies rarely warranty the crazing.

A prime example is the 200-2005 larsons.....crazing is common on the top shell gunwale....night next to the cleats.
This is a low spot in the mould...and the stress of the cleat causes the thick gellcoat to craze....7-10 larsons have it...
This is a clear engineering error... but it causes no harm.....so...it is called cosmetic and overlooked.

The cost to repair the OPs hull would be between 700-1200 dollars depending on the shop and if they matched or went went with a factory tinted gellcoat.

A DIY repair would be approx 100 bux if the person did not have to buy simple tools.

I hope this clears up some common misconceptions of gelcoat crazing, and how the industry reacts to it.

cheers
oops

 

[oops!]

Re: Are these normal stress cracks?(Pics)

oops

I hope he is not going to need a whole section a many feet across to be replaced.

Yuppers he is bud......the glass substraight will be cracked well over 5 inches in any direction of the crazing.....that will be a large area repair

We did it the difficult but hopefully stronger way due to racing stresses in heavy chop.

We laid 2 layers first on the inside to hold the shape of a compound curve. Then we ground out the broken up fibres & glass glue that was not solid anymore. Replaced it layer by layer only using cloth . Pre cut , put locating marks. We had 6 guys to drink beer, wine & Laugh at us.

Rich

this would be a proper repair in a racing sloop...an inside out side job with epoxy...and lots of fairing .....and beer. !

in the OP's case.....a quick layer of 1.5 csm over the substraight and then gell.....

racing sloops see much more stress than a small glass hull