Hull Delamination

[George Pysor]

We have had a problem with delamination of the hull below the water line. We also have been having a problem with indentations along both sides of the hull above the water line. The indentations are between 12" long to over 36" in length. The gel coat has been indented. The fiberglass repair house said that both problems, delamination problem and the indentation problems, were caused by Hunter's poor workmanship. Along the sides of the hull we ground through the gel coat and found that the woven core mat had never been saturated with resin. This left the core mat soft and compressible which caused the gel coat surface to be indented anytime a force was placed on the gel coat. IE. there was not support for the gel coat. This was caused by Hunter not saturating the support mat under the gel coat. We are now trying to decide how we should repair the entire problem. Does anyone have any great ideas? Has anyone else experienced this type of problems?

 

[Steve Dion]

What boat and what year?

[nm]

 

[George Pysor]

Boat Year and size

The boat was delivered in 1998 and is a 410. Hunter does not want to cover the cost of the indentation problem saying that it is cosmetic and not a structural problem. The 5 year hull warranty is about to run out. The warranty says they do not cover cosmetic problems. Last summer Hunter did pay about $5k for the delamination and indentation repairs. The fix was only to repair the damaged areas and not to repair the entire hull. Within one month after the repair we had 4 new indentations between 12" and 36" in length. They are now refusing to fix the root of the problem by calling it cosmetic. Imagine if you purchased a new $175K auto and ever time someone touched the car it would indent the paint. Our next step is to hire an attorney to go after Hunter.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Please keep us informed

Wow, this doesn't sound like the 'Hunter' I know.This will be on my threadtracker for a while.Please keep us informed of the action.And, yes, I would be livid if I got a cold shoulder for this type of problem. How does Hunter justify that un-saturated cloth is not a factory defect and is 'cosmetic'?Rich

 

[Gary C.]

Any photos? What's depth of indenting?

Sounds a little unnerving. Can you post a photo showing size and nature of indents? If you don't have a digital camera, someone would probably loan you one, and you may get good advice from others on this forum.