How to fix hull crack

[MaryEllaRose]

The boat is a 26 Pearson. Other than the bottom, it's in pretty good condition, rigging, etc. Some newer sails. The crack appeared hair line before we trailered it 40 miles. I'm inclined to contact the PO, but knowing his situation I doubt he'll do much. The range of responses is overwhelming...from run away to it's no big deal. As soon as possible I plan to take a dremel to it just to see how bad it is.

 

[mww0902]

Hey guys and gals, I acquired a 1988 Mac 26D in June of this year and have been overhauling ever since. POs did little if any preventative maintenance or repairs. My question is--is there a way to see only Mac 26D posts and replies on this forum? Although the rest is informative and entertaining, I tend to get Overloaded with information I don't need. Thanks for your help. Mike.

 

[Sarah Alison]

How did I get "Catalina 22"???
Oh well.
Same question - Pearson 26(Year, most details, unseen.). How much to replace?
One web site gave prices of $1,700 to $7,200, for years '73 to '80, not all in that order, price-wise!

A new MacGregor 26, for reference, is $23,000, with trailer, which I don't think is a pricey 26'..?

I still say investigate fixing your Pearson(Catalina? whatever...), or, if I can find gas money and a bigger pickup truck(?), I will trailer it to my place, for free, your gift to me. Well, heck, I'll even pay title and license transfers - what a deal! Lemme' know. If the bottom was ripped open stem to stern, and I could it here, I'd try hard to get it back on the water- and camp out in the backyard with it until then!

 

[Scott T-Bird]

My question is--is there a way to see only Mac 26D posts and replies on this forum? Although the rest is informative and entertaining, I tend to get Overloaded with information I don't need. Thanks for your help. Mike.

If you click on the heading "Forums" and look below, you will find a MacGregor Owners Forum. Ask All Sailors may be the better place for more general questions.

 

[Ray Perez]

I've seen worse - and I believe it can be repaired - BUT - it needs to be done 'right' - remember at one point the keel was not even attached - but it was attached and done the right way. It might cost more than $1500 to fix it - but again how valuable is your life and well being?

 

[dcapn88]

For $1500? You might find it makes $ense to donate the boat (to Sea Scouts?). Otherwise I would not spend for a surveyor, take your pics (or the boat) to a good boat-yard and get some advice. If the boat was in the water much after the "hit" then the fiberglass around the crack has probably been "blistered" so that all of the hull affected will have to be re-built. It may prove helpful to grind down the fiberglass around the crack in an exploratory channel (maybe 1" wide) to see how deep/wide the blister/delamination has penetrated. If less than half the hull thickness and you want to keep the boat then I suggest you grind off all the delamination, let it air-dry over the winter/spring? then re-fiberglass (making sure you f-glass to at least 6" of unaffected f-glass). I would recommend West System epoxy for the work. Could be a good learning process.

 

[mike pace]

Don't be foolish,eather repair it correctly or retire the boat. You don't want to risk the lives of the people on board.
Russian roulette is a game played by fools.

 

[BigEasy]

There are a lot of surveyors out there that have boat yard experience; either in a management /owner capacity or as a repair guy, its a matter of hiring the right one who has the necessary experience. The right surveyor should be able to give you a good assessment of the problem, repair methods, etc. I would be willing to pay $250 for that expertise.
If you take it to a yard, they may give you an over the top estimate or they may give you a low ball estimate that increases exponentially as they find more problems when repairs are underway. This will likely be a project in which the extent of damage cant be completely determined until the keel is removed and some serious grinding occurs. Mary Ella Rose's owner indicated previously that he will have a lot of time on hand after he retires at years end and is inclined to do his own repairs.
He is going to have to decide if he wants to tackle this major job and complete it properly & also do a blister job that we discussed on a previous post, or does he want to part it out for sale and cut his losses now. I could easily see this job costing $10,000 in a yard. The labor cost is going to be expensive. This new finding has confirmed my thoughts from the beginning, I would have looked for another boat. I don't have the time nor the facilities to do this repair. On the other hand,
if MA wants to take on this project, who am I to criticize how he spends his time & money.

 

[soggysocks]

Use a surveyor if it is for an insurance claim - they will require it.
Use a surveyor if you need one to assess a boat you are buying.
Use a surveyor to help you find all the negative fine points to help you negotiate for a lower price on a boat you are hoping to buy.
Use a surveyor to make up for your lack of boat knowledge.

But do not bother a surveyor with something like this - go to a reputable yard and for free they will assss the probable if not certain cause and what should be done to fix it properly.

Then if you decide to proceed - be there when they open it up and before you give them permission to fully proceed. By that time they should be able to give you "hard" estimates.

It is true that yards tend to inflate prices by typically 50% - during my last haul out purchase I would have been overcharged 400% on several of the things I had done but I happened to have a Timelapse camera going and simply presented the evidence. And this is one of the finest yards in the San Francisco Bay Area - arguably the best of the best.

The problem is so rampant that yards have taken to guaranteeing their estimates - unfortunately now they way overestimate in order to compensate - and the whole thing is not driven by the desire to steal from you - it is how hours get punched in and lag time gets filled in with fuzzy math.

You have a simple need - find out what you have got and get an estimate.
You will need to open it up somewhat in order to get a real estimate - without asking for additional work - have them open it up as needed and tell you what it will cost. It will probably be nearly impossible to inflate the price much since it should be fairly straight forward.

When they open it up ask them what they see, what should be done and how they will do it.
At that point you have a roadmap if you decide to do it yourself.
Total cost : An hour or less of yard time at 80-120 per hour. Half the places will not charge you for cutting into it to see what you have - and some may know exactly what you've got the minute they see it.

(The picture by the way looks identical to a symptom of an over tensioned rig - too much back stay and forestay tension pulling up the bow and cracking it in front of the keel)

 

[Sandy Stone]

Note that a P26 has a very swept-back scimitar shaped keel (made of cast iron, not lead). See sailboatdata.com. This can make the hull at the aft end of the keel vulnerable to damage from hard grounding, and also from improper supports when hauled out. Very likely transporting the boat on a trailer without proper support exacerbated some previous damage. At this point, it looks like the owner will have to either learn a lot about fiberglass repair or luck out and find somebody that will do a good job for a reasonable cost. Difficult, but not impossible.

 

[misha93]

Before calling a surveyor try to assess the damage yourself. Use a small parallel cutter and a hand drill and follow your crack deep enough to penetrate gelcoat layer until the fiberglass core will be seen. Figure out if the crack is present in the fiberglass. If yes then call a specialist to estimate repairs.

In any case, use the epoxy materials to patch the path like dentists dealing with root canals (sorry for perhaps unappropriated comparison). I have seen that kind of repairs were performed by DIY sailors.

 

[Jumpstart]

Things to consider. You are in for $1500. Surveyor- $250-300. Now 1750-1800. Any reputable fibreglass guy charges 80-100/hour. Easy to get a bill for $3,000 for this repair. You could easily have $5,000 into this boat which would be worth $2,500 - $3,500 when done. Your best bet is to part it out. Sell the outboard, mast, boom etc. You might recoup your $1500 or at least minimize your loss. This is not any easy fix. This type of glass repair must be done for inside which means a lot of grinding and could require removal and installation of a bulkhead. For those who think this is an easy repair remember that as the boat loads up when sailing the mast compresses on the compression post which exerts a lot of force in the area and this crack opens up even farther causing some pretty significant leaks, Not a good idea for Lake Erie conditions.