Sailboat deck crack repair

The stress cracks are not much larger then the thickness of a hair. Our test boat has had a few spider cracks since a few months after she came out of the mold. Hairline spider cracks must be opened wider and filled with an epoxy filler to be permanently repaired. Heres how i diagnosed and repaired a troublesome boat leak on my sailboat. Gel coat chip spider crack repair rot can be sneaky and you sound like youre making assumptions and want a quick fix.

Spring and the preceding winter is the time to prepare our boats for the upcoming boating season. Glad i own a lowly production hunter sailboat that doesnt have these gel coat issues. Repairing wet deck core of the cockpit floor ragged sails. For a cored deck, scrape out a ring of core from between the two laminates and fill this area with thickened epoxy. The basic plastic boat repair methods described here still represent best practices, but for optimal results use these methods with gflex 655 epoxy on plastics. However, any water that gets in can cause structural problems that have the potential to be just as severe as with a wooden boat. Jul 28, 2012 detailed steps for repairing wet deck core and fiberglassing. If the core is deteriorated around those bases, then what you are looking at is a repair job of major proportions, and one that almost no one will foot the bill for. Jul 20, 2015 this is a system that uses two part structural foam that makes a mushy boat deck, firm without replacement. The wood gets wet, soaks up the water, expands and then drys out, contracting and shrinking, causing cracks in the surface of the wood. Most damage can be repaired fairly easily and the results, even for the doityourselfer, can make it almost impossible to tell where the damage actually took place. Try not to remove any of the fiberglass resin or cloth. The actual job is not too much work, but it is messy.

Deck leaks boat and yacht maintenance and troubleshooting. Repairing hundreds of fiberglass cracks to get ready for. This thicker gelcoat cannot stand any flexing without showing cracks. Stress cracks can help us understand what caused the damage. Check each part of the deck carefully for cracks and check under the deck for water getting through drill holes holding deck gear in place. How to repair spider cracks on your fiberglass boat. If your boat is more than a few years old, youll probably be surprised. Buy magicezy hairline fix navy blue boat gelcoat crack repair fills and colors fast. In order to repair the cracks on your boat deck you need to seal the cracks. While you wait for the putty to cure, cut the fiberglass sheeting to a size that will cover the repaired area and sister the repair, strengthening the weak spot and providing the surface to be finished. Repairing hundreds of fiberglass cracks to get ready for spraying awlgrip paint.

It is up to the op to determine if this particular pearson is worth the investment of his time or the resources to completely remove the gel coat not really required or simply sand, primer, paint the deck and get use out of this vessel. Next, put the batch in a sandwich bag, cut a very small hole in a lower corner of the bag and decorate the deck with tiny dots, much as one decorates a cake. The other repair for spider cracks involves a little more work. The source of a boat leak is not always easy to find or fix. Theres some chance youll discover the need for significant repair work, such as a broken bulkhead.

A photo montage of a deck repair i did on my columbia 10. Since i was repainting the entire boat, it was no problem with doing the rework since i did not have to match any deck skid pattern or paint. Cut through a fiberglass boats hull or deck and you will find either a. If cracks appear at important joints or intersections in the cabin or deck. They claim that moisture spreads very slowly if at all horizontally due to the end grain cut of the balsa core. How to repair soft spots in fiberglass on a boat gone. Cracks on my boats deck most of the time small cracks like you described dont mean much and are only a cosmetic issue, but without seeing them its difficult to tell. There are many ways to repair cracks in fiberglasswhich ones the best. Step 1 figure out what caused the cracks to begin with. The cost of a fiberglass repair on your boat will greatly depend on the level of damage, the materials being used with the repair, where you live and the professional you choose. Caseys expert knowledge in hull and deck repair shines through as he hand holds readers with stepbystep instructions. Never allow someone to load heavy objects on the cabin top or jump onto the deck from the dock.

Aug 02, 2017 this way, there is no exposed wood to allow moisture into the deck. In this case, before you attack a single crack, you need to reinforce the area. In boat repair circles it is a job for a professional yard tear the old transom away and replace it. May 19, 2005 the deck alongside the cabin trunk was very springy and you could almost hear the water squish in the core when you walked there. Repairing stress cracks in a nonskid textured surface. Repairing stress cracks in a nonskid textured deck ive got a 79 f36 trojan. Jul 17, 2017 constant exposure to moisture and heat causes wood deck boards to crack, and small or hairline cracks are an unavoidable consequence of your decks aging process. In order to repair the cracks on your boat deck you need to seal the. Previous episodes go over other types of fiberglass repair using west system epoxy.

Sailboat hull and deck repair im sailboat library casey, don on. You can read a lot of glass boat repair manuals and never see anything on the selfrepair of transoms. If you do find yourself with a ding in your deck or a hole in your hull, dont fret. Magicezy hairline fix is a onepart, pretinted available in 10 colors sealant that allows you to complete the repair in seconds without having to grind out the. Sanitred is the only waterproofing system that can repair and seal any salt or freshwater ship, work, or pleasure boat deck paint, bilge area, vertical or inverted marine structure permanently, no matter how damaged or deteriorated. Start by wiping down the area with acetone and sanding the damaged gelcoat down to the fiberglass. In fact, they twist and flex quite a bit, and poorly constructed boats flex a lot, which is why we see.

How to repair a weathered, split deck home guides sf gate. They may indicate whether something inside the boat has broken loose and. Also, older fiberglass boats tend to have a thicker application of gelcoat which means they are more susceptible to cracking. There should be no deck coring in way of the stanchion bases but, if there is, what you have is a badly designed boat. Cracks can develop over time with normal wear and tear and aging. Jan 01, 1996 a fiberglass hulls seamless nature leads many boatowners to conclude that repair must be difficult. Sealing cracks in the boat deck is the simplest of the common boat deck repairs. Do your homework and make sure you dont have it or your gelcoat repair is a waste of time itll crack the first time you take it out. Two years ago i thought that i was in for the same on my 1988 catalina 30. Some boats are exposed to these conditions as a normal course of wear. Repairing a molded antiskid deck calls for a different approach.

Repairing minor damage to the gelcoat surface of your boat west. This is a system that uses two part structural foam that makes a mushy boat deck, firm without replacement. How to repair cracks in the wood on my deck hunker. The texturing of the deck is dimpled, for lack of a better term. Detailed steps for repairing wet deck core and fiberglassing. Other boats are needlessly used in a careless way and this causes hull problems. Theres some chance youll discover the need for significant repair work, such as a broken bulkhead, which is best left to a pro. Stress cracks, spider cracks, and hairline cracks in the decks of older boats are, of course, not rare. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. When it starts to harden, begin laying up the fiberglass and epoxy resin, three layers at a time, until the repair is complete. How to repair deep cracks in fiberglass boats youtube. Step 4 as soon as the crack has been channeled out, wipe it clean.

How to repair deep cracks in fiberglass boats with the new west system fiberglass boat repair kit. Rot repair in glass boats epoxy products to repair and. The manufacturers of balsa and balsa cored hulls tell us that wet balsa in a hull does not compromise its structural integrity. Just repairing the cracks with gel coat will only be a short term fix, it will soon crack again, probably the first time you walk on it. Feb 09, 2012 how to repair deep cracks in fiberglass boats with the new west system fiberglass boat repair kit. First mix a small batch of epoxy and filler until it has the consistency of mayonnaise. Cracks on my boats deck a striper has a molded liner, so sealing the entire thing would be difficult and required quite a bit of work to make it look good. Step 3 now, once youve removed all hardware, toerails, and other paraphernalia. These hairline fractures also occur in boats of the mid 1970s vintage which often had thicker gelcoat layers than newer boats. Jan 29, 2020 abuse is another way tiny cracks form and allow the entry of water.

This damage is often caused by slight flexing of the hull. Repairing hairline cracks and how to do repair gelcoat magicezy. Nov 30, 20 nov 30, 20 sunfish sailboat restoration. Similarly, if you make a large hole, such as for a hawsepipe, in a plywood deck, coat the exposed wood with epoxy. If you have a soggy, delaminated core on your boats deck or cockpit floor. On many boats, decks are cored with endgrain balsa or plywood. Here, clearly and abundantly illustrated, is all you need to know to seal joints, bed hardware, replace portlights, locate leaks, fix cracks and even holes, restore your hulls gloss, renew nonskid decks, and much more. Fill any voids in the surface of the putty, wait 24 hours and sand again with 00 grit sandpaper. Even well constructed boats will eventually develop leaks simply because boats are not totally rigid structures. I have recently been following a couple of threads where wet deck core is being repaired by cutting off interior or exterior skin and full replacement of the core.

Even major repairs and construction flaws can be finished, and hidden by sanitreds versatile and flexible. Magic fix for hairline cracks in gelcoat practical sailor. Step 2 then toughen the laminate that contains the crack or cracks by solidifying it. As they develop, they will become bigger and create more problems for you as you use the boat. Adding or upsizing backing plates to attachment points and bracing to highstress areas is probably going to be necessary. This system will give you a rock hard boat deck, no doubt about it. Deck repair with plywood and epoxy resin sail magazine. Sometimes, theyre merely cosmetic, meaning they dont penetrate the gelcoat. On a fibreglass boat its easy to assume deck leaks are merely an uncomfortable inconvenience. The key to deck and hull repair is using the right material. One quick and easy way to repair gelcoat stress cracks yourself is by using magicezy hairline fix a purpose built diy repair solution for stress cracks in gelcoat and fiberglass. The first step is to check every stanchion base and deck fitting to ascertain the extent of the rot. This repair was done 11 years ago and is still doing fine.

There are few problems that can cause more damage and detract from the value of your boat than window, porthole and hatch leaks. If the gel coat is a little thick and there is any flex in the floor it will eventually crack, this type of cracking isnt much of an issue. When i removed the traveler, about 1 gallon of water poured out of the throughbolt when i removed it. Eliminating deck rot ocean navigator marchapril 2012. I found a crack in the deck that was weeping brown. Theres really no way to be sure, until you repair the crazing and see if the cracks come back. This show covers how to repair fiberglass stress cracks on your boat using polyester resin. There are recessed spots over the entire nonskid surface. Spider cracks are nonstructural damage to the gelcoat of a boat.