Should I be worried?

[Erin]

I've been cleaning and polishing my hull with SafeBoatSkin and have noticed quite a few little cracks and chips to the gel coat.

The photos below show the main ones, including a split/crack on the top of the transom. There are also numerous areas of hairline cracking clustered together (too hard to photograph).

Should I be worried? Is this normal?. The boat's less than a year old if that makes any difference. Photo of boat included just for completeness!

[simmons0]

The one on the transom doesn't look to healthy

[ashbypower]

If it were mine @ that age, I'd be intouch with the supplier tutt suite.

Brian

[Wayne Rogers]

Back to the supplier for sure,that second picture looks like some previous damage has been painted over.

[Erin]

Thanks guys.

I wasn't too worried at first but the more I think about it the more I'm sure I ought to do something. I will post a copy of the photos to Prosport.

Cheers

Keith

[The Jackeens]

Looks a bit worrying alright

Us

[dctucker]

In a new boat <1 year old, I too would be contacting the manufacturer to have them repair all of those. Their only reason to not make the repairs under warranty or goodwill, is if they are caused by impact with floating debris. On an older boat, I wouldn't be too concerned, except for the one that appears to be seeping water, and possibly the one on the transom. The danger there is water getting into the core material (usually marine plywood in a transom) and causing it to rot unnoticed. Anytime any cored GRP has water intrusion it's bad news. I'm assuming the hull is solid GRP.

If it were an older boat, I would grind all of those back to solid material myself, fill and fair with West Systems epoxy and filler, and spray new gelcoat over. Finish with a good wetsanding to 600 grit or higher then buff. If thy're shallow enough you can just do gelcoat. None of those appear to be significant structural issues to me. The toughest issue with this sort of repair is properly color matching the gelcoat.

I've been messing about with boats for nearly all of my 40 years, and have done my share of cosmetic and structural repairs over that time... the J/24 sailboats I race have balsa cored hulls and decks for rigid construction with lighter weight. We're always concerned about bolting on hardware and such, to keep the core dry. OTOH, my ex-mil Searider has loads of dings and gouges in the gelcoat on the solid GRP hull, and I haven't bothered to repair any of them. If the boat were to be on a mooring for the season, I might consider making the repairs, but since it will be moored (!) ashore on its trailer, I have absolutely no concern. Perhaps soemday I'd consider restoring it to factory fresh condition, but until then...

[Erin]

Hi dctucker

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm going to write to the manufacturers with some photos. (no point phoning as most of you will no doubt know when you see who the manufacturer is ) The photos are maybe deceptive as there isn't actually any water seeping out of any of the cracks and I'm pretty sure they are only surface anyway. But it certainly looks as though the fibreglass hull has flexed and caused the damage. (PS I know about the J24's as I've sailed on one a few times.)

I think you may be right about the gel coat peeling off in one of the photos, which does seem like a previous repair has been done. The crack in the transom is where the fibreglass collars are bonded on, and which in turn hold the tubes. I really haven't done many miles yet, and although I've slammed a few times off waves, I've not hit any debris or pushed the boat too hard. Will have to wait and see what response I get from Prosport.

Cheers

Keith

[Stephen-RIB]

They dont look healthy in my opinion, who ever is to blame they do need sorting so that water does not find its way in to the glass.

[Alan]

Oh dear, I'm getting BWM flashbacks........

Erin, you should be worried. Its unacceptable for a new RIB. Pursue Prosport for rectification with all your might. Good luck!