Old boat... hull integrity

rjbathgate · 01 March 2012, 21:42

Hi,

A friend of mine is looking at buying an old (80s) boat (not a RIB), with a fibreglass hull, and I noticed these few cracks...

There's a few others in the gel coat around the place, but those don't look bad... it's only these that I noticed as potential problems...

One is along the port side along the hull, and the other is obviously the front eye/trailer anchor.

Major issues, or something that could be fixed and future-safe with marine filler and re-gel-coating?

Cheers
Rob

PS appreciate the photo's aren't the best...

Nos4r2 · 02 March 2012, 00:14

I hope it's free. Bet there's water in the core.

rjbathgate · 02 March 2012, 00:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

I hope it's free. Bet there's water in the core.

no... it's not free...!

There's no obvious bubbling or expansion of the glass / hull around the crack...

where to from here? easily fixable, or a no-go if the core has indeed got water ingress?

Cheers

Nos4r2 · 02 March 2012, 00:22

How long has it been out of the water?

rjbathgate · 02 March 2012, 00:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

How long has it been out of the water?

Not sure, I can find out, but at a guess at least 3 months

C-NUMB · 02 March 2012, 07:33

I think it's impossible to tell without opening up parts of the hull, let the angel gringder sing....Kind of lottery, can be much worse than it looks or then not so bad. But the crack is long and deep, the question is why did it ocour?

Searider · 02 March 2012, 08:10

That looks like a significant crack.

Any access to the inside of the hull at that location - that will give you an idea of what's going on.

Take a small hammer (4oz) and hammer the bottom - do the soundings go soft or hollow in the area of the crack?

If there is access inside the repair will be much simpler.

rjbathgate · 04 March 2012, 06:02

Hey,

Thanks for all the advice - it is a concern as it's a cheap cheap boat, wanted by my friend as a no-hassle cheapie, not something that has potential to cost more to fix then to buy!

re soundings when tapping, if is goes soft/hollow, indication of water logging inside?

there is, from what I can remember, access from the inside, but would have to double check.

I do think though that any 'risk' and they might be turned off it anyway.

Cheers for all your help