Having sold our h23 that we had owned for 15 years we are thinking of replacing it . I am going to look at a 1993 23.5 very soon . Can anyone suggest potential problems to look for ? The boat is sitting on a trailer in storage . Thanking everyone in advance for your responses . Mike
Advice
- Thread starter mmsailor
- Start date
Check the joint at the bottom of the transom for a crack along the joint. I read in the archives where it is called the Dreaded Transom Crack. Mine was cracked and it can be fixed. Not a deal breaker in my opinion unless real bad.
Check the T bolts on the side stays, make sure they are not bent. Easy to replace if bent.
Check the fore and side stays for broken wires, especially close to the ends.
I love mine, good boat. Hope others have some hints for you.
Check the T bolts on the side stays, make sure they are not bent. Easy to replace if bent.
Check the fore and side stays for broken wires, especially close to the ends.
I love mine, good boat. Hope others have some hints for you.
MMsailor;
Having been involved extensively as a dealer who introduced the 23.5, I will be glad to share with you what to look for. I will be back home next Tuesday and if you want me to call, please advise in an email your phone and location which is kept confidential via this site. there is a lot to tell you what to look for as it would take too long to write. I sold appx. 25% of the entire production line.
crazy dave
Having been involved extensively as a dealer who introduced the 23.5, I will be glad to share with you what to look for. I will be back home next Tuesday and if you want me to call, please advise in an email your phone and location which is kept confidential via this site. there is a lot to tell you what to look for as it would take too long to write. I sold appx. 25% of the entire production line.
crazy dave
Looked at boat today in snow storm . Did not have the time to spend due to the cold . Here is one source of concern for me . Trying to post a few pics .
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Hi MM
I think this is pretty common with 23.5s, I know mine had the same cracking though not as extensive as yours. While Mr. Condon will have some good ideas about the fix, my boat yard ground off the gelcoat covering that seam, gouged out a bit between the hull and transom molds, filled the gouged out area fibreglas and then gelcoat over the repair. This is easily fixed and not an expensive repair.
Occurs to me this seam is stressed by the proximity of the lower rudder gudgeon. As your boat is in a freezing environment, you may wish to squeeze yourself under the cockpit sole to get to the inside of that seam to be sure there's no water collected there. Water might find its way into that seam, freeze, expand and worsen the crack/leak.
Kind regards
Hugh
I think this is pretty common with 23.5s, I know mine had the same cracking though not as extensive as yours. While Mr. Condon will have some good ideas about the fix, my boat yard ground off the gelcoat covering that seam, gouged out a bit between the hull and transom molds, filled the gouged out area fibreglas and then gelcoat over the repair. This is easily fixed and not an expensive repair.
Occurs to me this seam is stressed by the proximity of the lower rudder gudgeon. As your boat is in a freezing environment, you may wish to squeeze yourself under the cockpit sole to get to the inside of that seam to be sure there's no water collected there. Water might find its way into that seam, freeze, expand and worsen the crack/leak.
Kind regards
Hugh
Seam was repaired last Summer ( I pull the boat for the Summer to avoid the heat, humidity and hurricanes in New Orleans). The repair is just fine. By the way, the seam never leaked, but I thought it prudent to get it fixed while the boat was on the hard. Get under the boat and look closely at the forward end of the centerboard trunk for cracking...years of dropping the centerboard against the forward end of the trunk put a crack in my plastic there which was easily repaired.
Do be mindful you're buying a 21 year old boat at a small fraction of what an equivalent new boat would cost. You or your boat yard are going to have to do some maintenance because the boat just ain't new. The beauty of a 23.5 is the boat and its systems are very simple...there's not a whole lot that can go wrong. To my mind, its smart to keep it simple, though others on this site may be of a different view.
Kind regards
Hugh
Do be mindful you're buying a 21 year old boat at a small fraction of what an equivalent new boat would cost. You or your boat yard are going to have to do some maintenance because the boat just ain't new. The beauty of a 23.5 is the boat and its systems are very simple...there's not a whole lot that can go wrong. To my mind, its smart to keep it simple, though others on this site may be of a different view.
Kind regards
Hugh
My '93 had the same crack and was repaired about 10 years ago. It wasn't as big as yours, but i presume the repair would be the same. It was gouged with a dremel as deep as the crack went, which was about 1/4 inch in my case, and filled with resin. No issues at all since. The hull isn't cored, so there shouldn't be any hidden, more serious damage, but now you have a bargaining point.
Overall, I believe the boat is outfitted with quality parts that seem over-sized to me. This is what sold me on it over the Mac 26. The local dealer showed me how the mac hull was slightly deformed when sitting on the trailer, but the 23.5 wasn't. I'm sure it's a non issue, but it was dramatic at the time. The trailer is what it is.
Mine has a single axle and no brakes. It isn't an issue on the flat roads here, but if i lived in a mountainous area, i would definitely add brakes.
Just curious, what is the asking price? I still have mine and it is going to be sold soon and wondering what they're fetching. Some of the asking prices I see online seem a little high to me.
Overall, I believe the boat is outfitted with quality parts that seem over-sized to me. This is what sold me on it over the Mac 26. The local dealer showed me how the mac hull was slightly deformed when sitting on the trailer, but the 23.5 wasn't. I'm sure it's a non issue, but it was dramatic at the time. The trailer is what it is.
Mine has a single axle and no brakes. It isn't an issue on the flat roads here, but if i lived in a mountainous area, i would definitely add brakes.
Just curious, what is the asking price? I still have mine and it is going to be sold soon and wondering what they're fetching. Some of the asking prices I see online seem a little high to me.
I fixed my crack myself. I used a dremel tool to grind out the crack about 1/2 inch deep. There are three layers at the joint consisting of the fiberglass transom on top, a middle layer of a softer material and the hull bottom of fiberglass. This seems to be covered with gell coat at the edge. I ground out the softer material between the two fiberglass layers. Since the fiberglass is much harder, it was not hard to grind the soft material between them up and down to the fiberglass. I went a good bit beyond the ends of the crack. I then layered in epoxy and strips of fiberglass. I was trying to use woven fiberglass that I cut into strips about a half inch to an inch wide. It was a messy job (wear gloves) and the fiberglass cloth fell apart and turned into a mass of random fibers but I stuffed it in anyway. I made sure that everything was thoroughly wetted and filled with epoxy. It could look better but it is working fine. I don't think it has re-cracked after 4 years but I need to examine it closely to confirm this.
Check the archives, there are some real good posts on this repair on the 23.5. I hope you talk to Crazy Dave. He is a fine gentleman and both knowledgeable and helpful.
Good luck,
Tom
Check the archives, there are some real good posts on this repair on the 23.5. I hope you talk to Crazy Dave. He is a fine gentleman and both knowledgeable and helpful.
Good luck,
Tom
Tom , Thank you . for the info . I remember Dave very well I spent a lot of time on this forum , bought things from them etc . I sold our h23 a few years ago and am no starting to miss it . I had always said when the work keeping it looking good got to be work I would stop . Now after some time I am ready to get back to sailing . Dave has been a wealth of information and we may not tell him often enough how much he is appreciated . So heres to Dave . I reiinforced the motormount area of our hunter using matting and some stainless if I recall . It held up great but no one saw it . I can see how getting that matting in such a small crack would be a problem . Wondering if there might be a way to shred it and somehow get it in that way .
I have tried several time to search for transom crack with no luck , must be doing something wrong ,
I just tried to search for transom crack and had some trouble. The trick is to search the Smaller Boats forum, do not limit the search to the H23.5. Use "transom crack" as the search term.
Here is one of the many links that came up. This one has a reply from Dave in it.
http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=899540&highlight=transom crack
When I fixed mine, the fiberglass cloth was basically shredded by the time I got it into the slot I ground out. It still helped hold in the epoxy. I was going to try to wrap some fiberglass around the outside of the joint but in the end it was too hard to keep the cloth together. I'm glad I gave up on that because it looks much better with the slot just filled. The biggest problem was keeping the epoxy from dripping back out. I found that once the epoxy started to thicken and set, it was easier to trowel it in with plastic knife or popsicle stick. It still left a slight dent at the slot but it is mostly at the waterline and I never see it. I painted the edge with white topside paint and am pretty happy with the results (but I'm not being picky).
Here is one of the many links that came up. This one has a reply from Dave in it.
http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=899540&highlight=transom crack
When I fixed mine, the fiberglass cloth was basically shredded by the time I got it into the slot I ground out. It still helped hold in the epoxy. I was going to try to wrap some fiberglass around the outside of the joint but in the end it was too hard to keep the cloth together. I'm glad I gave up on that because it looks much better with the slot just filled. The biggest problem was keeping the epoxy from dripping back out. I found that once the epoxy started to thicken and set, it was easier to trowel it in with plastic knife or popsicle stick. It still left a slight dent at the slot but it is mostly at the waterline and I never see it. I painted the edge with white topside paint and am pretty happy with the results (but I'm not being picky).
The hull to deck joint is just that secured together with marine putty. First I would dremel out the marine putty to the fiberglass and then sand to get a rough but smooth inside surface. There are two ways to go with this.
If you use a two part epoxy realizing it is expensive, I use one called Water Tite which is a two part and takes a long time to dry. It is the hardest and an underwater epoxy which has never failed. it will take several times to finally fill that in. Then I would smooth out the outer seam and paint it either with gel coat or a Krylon white spray paint that will closely match the color. Forget about color matching.
The other is to use fiberglass fibers and glass in but you will have to make sure that when doing so and if you go all the way thru that seam, then tape behind the crack inside so the glass will not ooze out to the inside when applying resin. I would use vinlyester resin vs. polyester resin. Again it will take several applications and do not over resin the glass or it will dry out quickly and later crystalize which is not good. When you reach near the outer lip. I would then fill in with a two part epoxy and sand until smooth and then paint.
I hope this will explain.
crazy dave condon
If you use a two part epoxy realizing it is expensive, I use one called Water Tite which is a two part and takes a long time to dry. It is the hardest and an underwater epoxy which has never failed. it will take several times to finally fill that in. Then I would smooth out the outer seam and paint it either with gel coat or a Krylon white spray paint that will closely match the color. Forget about color matching.
The other is to use fiberglass fibers and glass in but you will have to make sure that when doing so and if you go all the way thru that seam, then tape behind the crack inside so the glass will not ooze out to the inside when applying resin. I would use vinlyester resin vs. polyester resin. Again it will take several applications and do not over resin the glass or it will dry out quickly and later crystalize which is not good. When you reach near the outer lip. I would then fill in with a two part epoxy and sand until smooth and then paint.
I hope this will explain.
crazy dave condon