Unusual cracking in Typhoon deck, what is the cause?
- Thread starter Coppertone
- Start date
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,505
I think sometime between the Beer cooler and the marina Dock.
Sure seems like just yesterday, when I was young.
It's not the thickness of the gelcoat, it is the dry layup underneath. They spray the gelcoat in the mold, then lay in the fabric and wet it out as they go. The glass mat against the gelcoat never got fully impregnated with resin so there were dry spots under the gelcoat. That's why the cracks are arranged like the random chopped strands beneath. Here's what the area pictured above looks like now. The white fibers in the foreground shouldn't be very visible if they had been fully wetted out. You can also see air bubbles that were trapped. That's very bad workmanship.
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@Coppertone - it looks like you are well into the hard part and it looks pretty manageable. It's a little disconcerting to see chopped strand on a deck. That probably adds to the problem you are seeing. You might want to go with woven mat when you add a layer over top. The good news is once you get this job done it will be better than new.
What are you using on the sander to remove the top layer?
What are you using on the sander to remove the top layer?
I start with a 1" wood chisel to chip as much as I can. Then I have used 40 grit on a Festool RO 150. It is switchable between rotary and orbital modes. It is a savage sander. I've also used a Harbor Freight 1" x 18 belt sander in curved areas. It is very fast, even with 120 grit.