Spider Cracks

[Jane]

It seems that I have a lot of hairline cracks appearing around the boat (the cracks literally look like a strand of hair) and some are the spider cracks. Should these be of concern and is there an easy to fix them?Thank you,Jane"Echo"

 

[Keith Stone]

Cracks

Having previously lived in the Chesapeake area, I would be concerned due to water entering the cracks and expanding. Most of the cracks are superficial and are not serious. I grinded them out with a Dremel tool and then filled them with Bondo (from an auto store) then applied gelcoat and sanded. Looked pretty good afterwards and remained in good condition several years later.

 

[Doug Margison]

fill em now

I had an older Catalina 30 that had a lot of similar cracks in the cockpit area. I used a painted can opener punch which I sharpened on a grinder. Simply went along all of the hairline cracks to create a groove about 1/8" thick. then used white gelcoat filler to fill and sanded after it dried. It will take a couple of applications to fill the groove. Finally, I colour matched some gelcoat (no filler this time), and applied that with a putty knife, although is about the consistency of paint. Worked great. Took about a day to do. The important thing is take your time and because gel coat shrinks expect multiple coats.This fix is fine as long as the cracks are only cosmetic. This fix is a lot more involved if they go all the way through the gel coat.Happy Sailing,DougMokum II

 

[A.L. ("Jim") Willis Pres of ISLAND GIRL PROD.]

Rust from cracks around stailess bolt head.

Cracks in gelcoat can look ugly but do not seem to affect integry of underlyig gelcoat (I have some from 6 years ago).However there are exceptions. I had some small cracks around a bolt holding on my cabin top. Water has got in and the bolt is rusting. Short of removing the healdiner and the bolt and doing a complete repair I am not suere wat to do andthe gelcaot is badly rust stained aroundthe bolt. Think I'll start by dremellinunder the bolt to "take a look" and if the integrity of the bolt is OK filling the area around it, first with 5200, then withepoxy (bondo is too porous) then matching the gelcoat non-skid with stuff from FIberglass Hawaii. When I do this I'll take pics to post.If bolt is bad- Ill have to replace it too.Has anyone had a similar problem?ThanksJim W