Old Hull crack?

[SystemF]

I have a 1972 VIP 16ft that was taking in a large amount of water on Sunday. When I put her back on the trailer I found a 1ft long crack in the fiberglass on the bottom of the hull. The floor above that crack is pretty soft and possibly rotted? What will be involved in this repair assuming the floor is going to be replaced, is there anything special to watch out for? Does anyone have an idea of an estimated cost assuming the flooring is rotted?

 

[nightride]

Re: Old Hull crack?

its alot of work to replace the floor and im sure the stringers are rotted out its going to cost you more than the boat is worth being a 1972

 

[SystemF]

Re: Old Hull crack?

any other opinions?

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Old Hull crack?

fibreglass is a skin for the wooden structural<br />components of the hull. no solid wood and it <br />flexes and cracks. <br />doubt this will work, but drill a hole at both<br />ends of the crack to stop it from getting bigger,<br />than patch the crack. may at least get you a few<br />extra months on the water if you go real slow<br />and don't bang it around real hard.<br />for a permanent fix, do a search above under <br />"rotten stringers".<br />good luck,<br />M.Y.

 

[SystemF]

Re: Old Hull crack?

Looks like I will have to go with the perm fix. most of the boats in my area are those ski/wakeboard boats with idiots that have no recpect and run around with their ballasts full pulling no one cutting 2ft swells in the river. My boats gets thrown around even off plane... a patch would probably be destroyed, but thanks for the info I might do it and stick to calmer waters.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Old Hull crack?

I wouldn't sweat a soggy floor a second. I would sweat a major leak in the hull due to a crack in the fiberglass. While it can be repaired, I wouldn't be comfortable that the repair would hold unless you use it as a row boat and never take it any farther from shore than you can swim.<br /><br />I would get out the chain saw.