Newboat - condition query - gelcoat hairline cracks - advice?

[gibbowolfie]

Looking at a boat yesterday, all the stressed members or the GRP looked in good confition. There was however some cracking to two opposite corners of the console. It looks very slight and just in the gelcoat. A bit similar to a minor impact where cracks radiate out from the centre. This is only on the console panel and in an area that this wouldn't be cause by an impact from an item being dropped. The cracks are only about 30mm long. I've seen similar gelcoat cracking due to a screw being done up too much and pulled the panel past it's flexibility. The structure of the panel in this case was fine but the gel coat cracked around the screw.

Is this something expected in a 3-4 yo boat? A bit like cracks in new plaster walls? If proved to be cosmetic, anything that can be done to improve?

Also a minor cosmetic query, what can be done about scrapes in the hull wall colouring from fenders rubbing? I've sen this on pretty much every boat with high blue hull colouring of this age.

Thanks,

Steve.

 

[Dave99]

Blue hull colouring - do you know if the hull has blue gelcoat or if is painted?

 

[PCUK]

Hairline cracks can also be caused by stress, induced when an item was assembled. like your example of an overtightened screw. The long term solution is to grind off the gel-coat in the effected area and replace. Alternatively the cracks can be ground out individually and filled although this is a less effective solution.
On hull scuffing, if the colour is in the gel-coat the scuffs can be polished out using compound and a polishing machine.

 

[gibbowolfie]

& PCUK askiun same Q.

[ QUOTE ]
Blue hull colouring - do you know if the hull has blue gelcoat or if is painted?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure but I can check that. I am pretty confident I'd put one in myself in 1st year (dark hulls can look smart but they do show damage a lot more easily!). My worry was really whether I should expect the cracking in a 3-4 yo boat or if this was unusual.

 

[Nautical]

I wouldn't worry too much, even new boats can show some minor gel coat cracks. The problem is that grp flex's as the boat is moved around particulary during transport, if it didn't the boat would split in two the first time you dropped off a big wave or bumped the boat while lifting etc, there has to be some flexibility in the grp, its only very slight and hardly measurable but the gel is a different density than the grp so fractional flexing of the grp can affect the gel generally around sharp edges or a hard radius. If its spider cracks then grind them out, re gel and finish with w & d and polish and bobs your uncle.

Blue gel will always show scuffs etc providing they are not too deep you can polish them out, however the best hulls have the thinest gel as the thinner the gel the better the finish, thick gel on grp usually shows as ripples down the side or not quite as shiney a finish. If the scuffs show white through them and are more than a 2 mm deep then its probably gone through to the grp and you will have to refill with gel and finish.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Agree with nautical. All grp boats tend to exhibit some minor cracking around stress points in one area or another like screw holes, stanchion fixings, sharp corners etc. If it does'nt bother you, then I would'nt even have it repaired as it's likely to reappear anyway
Repairing damage to a blue gel coated hull is more tricky because the gel coat is likely to have faded and the repair colour might not match the existing colour. In general, I don't like coloured hulls for this reason and the fact that the colour will fade badly on any upward facing areas of the hull which are more exposed to the sun. Also as has been pointed out already, any scratches go through the coloured gelcoat layer to the white grp underneath so look v unsightly IMHO. Blue hulls look great but white hulls are more practical

 

[gibbowolfie]

Thanks guys. I'll let you know how I get on.