Going The Distance Back in late August 2000, my wife and I had returned home to the driveway from a weekend of sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and was replacing a piece of tape over the knot meter transducer paddle wheel to keep it from spinning in the breeze. Looking up I noticed a series of cracks in the gelcoat about two inches aft of the starboard bunk board. Pictures are in the Photo Forum. Of course, about this time "I FREAKED". Upon closer inspection, I was able to tell the board was pushing up into the hull causing a depressed area around the end of the bunk board. "I FREAKED" a whole bunch more. I scrambled down below looking for any water in the bilge and any depressions under any of the flooring. So I called Crazy Dave and told him what I found. He requested pictures and asked if I was taking on any water – NO!! After taking pictures, I e-mailed them to Dave and he requested I also send them to Hunter Marine Warranty c/o Eddie Breeden. After a couple of days Eddie called and we went through the questions again. Eddie said if I wasn't leaking I would be OK until the end of sailing season. Eddie told me that Hunter wanted the boat back at the plant so they could inspect and repair what ever the problem was. Without looking at the boat they would not be able speculate as to the cause. Boat got sent back to Hunter around Nov 7. Eddie told me they would not get it scheduled into the production group until December and would let me know what they found. Eddie explained that they were going to grind into the hull to insure the hull was laid up correctly and would it be OK "after we repair the cracks in the bottom we would like your permission to do an epoxy barrier coat to the hull of the boat. It would make the repair look invisible and you would receive a free bottom job." OK SURE PLEASE – NO PROBLEM – BE MY GUEST. Well I heard from Eddie the beginning of this week and the boat had been repaired. They found no structural problem in the hull. What they found was a crack in the trailer bunk board almost halfway across which was allowing the board to flex down. If you look at the third picture you can see a bow in the board just behind the wheels. This was causing upward movement at the end of the board and placing pressure on the hull. Eddie and Dave are making arrangements to get my boat back to me in the near future. How many different ways can I sing the praises of Hunter Marine. This is "Going the Distance" for a customer. No fingers pointed at me, just immediate "Lets get the boat back and find out what needs to be done". Thanks To Dave Condon Eddie Breeden Greg Emerson