Spider Cracks and gouges

[Raschoony]

Hello all,
I got my 90 SeaRay 180 OB last year... and was very excited to take it out with the family and friends. This year i started to actually care for the thing and want to make some fixes. I've read some of the full resto's in here... even read thru a thread where someone extended his old family boat... exciting stuff.. so here's where I'm at...

First things first... I have a few cracks (i think spider is the correct term for the one pictured, but I'm prob wrong), the one pictured is on the port side halfway down the hull (hope that's all the right lingo). I also have a few gouges not pictured... what steps would i go about fixing this. I would guess smooth out the gouges with some epoxy? and for the crack sand it down... and then...?




Many thanks for the help..

Schoony

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

another picture of the location...



Schoony

 

[old islander]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Spider cracks are tough to repair. What it comes down to is grinding them out and repairing the gel coat. Just trying to fill over them does not work. They will haunt you forever if you do. There's a guy on here called Wood on glass. He's a real pro when it comes to fiberglass repairs. He will be along shortly....

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Spider cracks are tough to repair. What it comes down to is grinding them out and repairing the gel coat.

Grinding them out... ok... what am I looking at... use sand paper, wet sand (i think 600-1000 right), i have a mouse (a sander)... or is it more like acetone and wiping?


Also, do these cracks leak at all, or is it more of an eyesore?

Schoony

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Also,

and sorry for all these Q's..

The gouges... they would be the same repair..? Some of them have more of a nick on the fiberglass...



Schoony

 

[friderday]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Look at post 165 of my Larivee thread, schoony. I had about 20 of these. I chose to use a dremel & make them much deeper, ie. much worse, before attempting to make them better. I "traced over them with a v-bit, grinding them down/out thru gelcoat, to raw glass. I then used a microballoon mixture & filled them in, followed by sanding after they were dry. Sometimes ya gotta make the crack bigger before you can make it better.

 

[friderday]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

As I think about this more, I think I used a mixture of cabosil AND microballoons.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Look at post 165 of my Larivee thread, schoony. I had about 20 of these. I chose to use a dremel & make them much deeper, ie. much worse, before attempting to make them better. I "traced over them with a v-bit, grinding them down/out thru gelcoat, to raw glass. I then used a microballoon mixture & filled them in, followed by sanding after they were dry. Sometimes ya gotta make the crack bigger before you can make it better.

Yep ^^^

AND

As I think about this more, I think I used a mixture of cabosil AND microballoons.

Yep ^^^, probably a bit of both mixed into a paste w/ poly resin. You want to fill the widen/deepened cracks to just below the adjacent surface. Then use gelcoat to fill in the last little bit and over-fill the repair. This allows you to sand out the orange peel in the gelcoat and blend it w/ the surrounding gelcoat...

Gouges can be filled & coated w/ gelcoat the same way, if there is no exposed whiskers of fiberglass showing. A really deep gouge might require more work, pix please

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Checked out post 165 on the Larivee thread... man that's alot of cracks..

Pics of the gouges will come tomorrow... first thing

Schoony

 

[friderday]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Luckily, my multiplicity of cracks is in the past. They turned out great! Yup, I thought the microballoons needed a bit of strength so I added some cabosil. "man that's a lot of cracks..", makes me think, "woo hoo, I win...I have more cracks than you do"!(sorry-it's been a really bad week here...haven't smiled for days...thanks)

Checked out post 165 on the Larivee thread... man that's alot of cracks..

Pics of the gouges will come tomorrow... first thing

Schoony

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Yessiree Friderday's got you covered. She did an excellent job on her repairs.

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Ok, sorry for the delay... here is 2 pics of some of the gouges....




Schoony

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Also,
Where the OB is housed.. ?transom? (school me on verbage please).. theres a bucket... both ends have cracks



Schoony

*the other side pic wont load.. but both cracks are in the corners LH and RH side aft section of the bucket..

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Last but not least...

The old owner made some repairs..


Schoony

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Also,
Where the OB is housed.. ?transom? (school me on verbage please).. theres a bucket... both ends have cracks
View attachment 225726


Schoony

*the other side pic wont load.. but both cracks are in the corners LH and RH side aft section of the bucket..

OB hangs off/on the transom, so you got that right. The back of the boat is also called the stern.

not sure what bucket you are referring to.... The splashwell maybe? It's the 'tub' or well just infront of the outboard. Although a completely different type of boat, the splashwell is the area just in front of the outboard in this pix:

The previous owner (PO) repairs were likely needed after banging around in a slip or while on the trailer & backing into something.....

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

I'm not discouraged yet... so don't lose any confidence in me yet... BUT...
If these cracks go untreated will they worsen? I mean who knows how long they've been there... more so the spider crack on the hull and the cracks on the aft corners of the splashwell..?

Need more fuel for the fire... you know mental motivation... and ammunition for the wifey...

Schoony

 

[bajaunderground]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

My Baja had the same type of stress cracks on the corners of the splash-well...never got any bigger in the 7 years I owned her. Never fixed as metal-flake red is pretty tough to blend and make look good. I'm guessing here, but more than likely, the 2 at the splash-well will rear their ugly heads again. There are lots of stresses (fore and aft) there and it could be indicative of a compromised transom as well? I'm not saying to not repairing them, but merely an observation of why and where?

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Sounds good... To recap...:
Start off by making cracks a bit deeper... partially fill deep gouges with microballoons.. then overfill those and the low scratched ones with gelcoat... sand down and do 3-5 layers of gelcoat... once done do you paint? or just wax...

Started looking at products... is Pettit good or does everyone steer somewhere else?

All I'm needing to buy is microballon and gelcoat.. nothing else?

Also, on the sanding... hand sand or can i use my mouse sander

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Okay all you need is the microballoons and the gelcoat you mix the two together and apply to the spiderweb cracks then you overfill and hand sand until it's smooth no paint is needed the gelcoat is the final finish. You should try to get the gelcoat to match the gelcoat that is already on the boat. Start sanding with 220 and sand all the way to 1000 grit then finish with a power polisher

 

[Raschoony]

Re: Spider Cracks and gouges

Found another pic not sure why it didn't get posted



Schoony