Hairline cracks

[david_e]

I have some hairline gelcoat cracks in the cockpit of my Beneteau. They have bee caused by wear & tear and kids jumping all over the place /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

Are they worth repairing, does water ingress, and how do you do it? Is it a DIY or professional job?

 

[enterprise]

Surveyor found same on boat we had.
After taking control readings from the deck areas, it was found to be higher around the hairline cracks.

His sudgestion was to grind out the areas concerned to see if there were defects with the underlying laminate, this we had done profesionaly as the areas concerned would be below waterline, there were no problems with the laminate & therefore the cracking was only cosmetic.

If you think they might be more than cosmetic I would have them looked at by a profesional, they will take the moisture readings & give you some good advice, if you think they are only cosmetic then have a go yourself first.

We had approx 10 small hand size or less cracks done, pro job was over a £grand.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

There is a section on repairing hairline fractures in the pdf file on my site.

Click Here

At the bottom right you will see the link (GRP Repair manual), it is around 450kb, so as well to save target as; and view from your hard drive as pdf's always seem to take an age to open in IE etc.

Hope this helps...

 

[david_e]

Thanks, they are in the cockpit floor and as such are above the waterline. Will give it a go myself using woofy's helplink (thanks woofy)

 

[Howardnp]

The price on the front of the manual is interesting.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Hardley]

After being hit by another boat several years ago, my boat started letting in some water, not a great deal, just a nuisance, builders and many other people tried to find where the water was coming from, without success. Lived with it for several years, then last year decided to repair some hair line cracks, on the vertical cabin side.
Bingo no more water coming in the boat, those hairline cracks were so small, you would not believe they would let in the amount of water that was entering the boat.
I would guess that water is getting into your boat or at least into the fibres.
It is quite an easy job to do, biggest problem is matching the gel coat colour, unless you are an expert you won't get a perfect match, just get as close as you can.
Wait for the warmer weather before you start, unless your boat is under cover and in heated area.

 

[webcraft]

Our boat is 33 years old and has loads of hairline cracks, round cleats and various other places. Also chips and scratches and a couple of small chunks out of the cockpit coamings. She is as dry as a bone though. My guess is that 99% of hairline cracks are purely cosmetic, and inevitable as a boat gets older.

If you are really worried get a surveyor to take a quick look. If he says they are purely cosmetic then the amount of money you spend on the problem should probably be directly proportional to the amount they spoil your sailing . . . if you can live with them spend the money on an extended cruise or a nice new bit of kit.

While on the subject, does anyone know of a way of getting gelcoat filler to stick to the gelcoat instead of everything but the gelcoat???

- Nick