How serious is this?

[Valentina]

As far s I could tell at least 2 of 3 have the insides well in tact and dry. at least 2 out of 3 were moored every year for the whole season and stored on a bunk trailer in the winter.
P.S. is it Rudy's home phone or work?
To DON SIV...it is definitely a gelcoat crack-not bottom paint!!!
To see if a crack propagates onto glass is impossible without chipping gelcoat off (No owner would go for THAT kind of inspection) :O)

Am I right about the method of fixing it??? (which I think is to v-groove the cracks, fill them and epoxy paint it over??? After all I would want this boat to last for at least 10 more years...

 

[Ross]

Inside or outside you will have to get a look at the laminate. If it has been bruised then it must be strenghtened. You can break a fiberglass laminate without creating a leak just as you can break a bone without displacing the bone ends. The difference is that fiberglass can't heal its self.

 

[Ross]

If there are any medical untrasound people here they might be able to tell us if they could "see" broken laminate in this situation.

 

[sand sailor]

i'd be inclined to walk away. this hull has been stressed beyond its normal limits and should be reinforced before long to be considered safe .
ive got a 40yr old santana been sailed hard most of its life big marks on the keel from who knows what but nothing like that in the glass (i wouldnt feel safe to take another hit and survive)

 

[sailormanbigd]

if you gotta have the boat, need it, want it, can't sleep without it, then use the cracks to beat up the price rediculously low. Then i would sand the area's, wipe with acetone and brush on a coat of epoxy barier coat and use the dam boat and check it from time to time. Gotta go sailing.

 

[from afar]

Fellows, I have finally zeroed in on a boat model that I want to buy. I found 3 within 300 mile radius of me and looked at them...they are all about the same age (20 year old) and all have a common defect (some smaller than others)...CKACKS in gelcoat on the bottom they look like a crushed eggshell and on some boats are all over the bottom. Take a look at the pix...how serious is it?
Some say it's just cosmetic-just paint over them with bottom paint...I tend to think it's more serious and they all have to be widened and filled and epoxy painted. What is your opinion? I can send you a higher resolution pix for a better view.
Please write to mac22.valentina@gmail.com
THANKS!
V

I'm far from an expert, but if three different boats of the same manufacturer and of about the same year all show a similar symptom, then the first question I would ask is, "what do they have in common?" Of course, it's possible that all three had a hard grounding, but it seems to me that this is a less likely explanation than that what they have in common is some sort of design flaw.

PS. This is "John" writing from a different computer and too lazy to remember how to sign in.

 

[Ross]

I don't know the profile of this keel but if the center of the length at the bottom of the keel is aft of the center of the keel where it is attached to the hull, then resting the boat on its keel would place a rotational moment on the area of attachment. If the hull were not designed to support this strain then these cracks could develope over a period of time.
Edit to add : This strain would be equal and opposite when the boat is in the water and the keel is loading the attachment point in tension.