star crazing in stressed areas?....

RobWales

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www.3ksengineering.com
Purely out of personal interest considering the size and complexity of some grp vessels.

On the Relcraft project I'm currently working on there are various areas of star crazing in the gelcoat, mainly though in areas of poorly fitted deck fittings or where perhaps there has been impact damage!

There are though two areas on the walkaround just below the front cabin windows which have classic star crazing!...I suspect that there was an initial design flaw and this area had been flexing, there is clear evidence (different colour resin) that additional strengthening gussets were glassed in below these two points at a later stage.

So my question for perhaps some of the newer and bigger grp boat owners is..........

Have you come across design flaws in your pride and joy, have you had to modify and if the boat is still or was still in production did you report back to the factory?

Rob :)
 
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What normally happens is that problems show up in the warranty period, get fixed, and the factory tweaks the build to stop it happening again.
It's not happened to me, but I know people that have had radar arch mountings fixed, supports for the roof etc.
 
Purely out of personal interest considering the size and complexity of some grp vessels.

On the Relcraft project I'm currently working on there are various areas of star crazing in the gelcoat, mainly though in areas of poorly fitted deck fittings or where perhaps there has been impact damage!

There are though two areas on the walkaround just below the front cabin windows which have classic star crazing!...I suspect that there was an initial design flaw and this area had been flexing, there is clear evidence (different colour resin) that additional strengthening gussets were glassed in below these two points at a later stage.

So my question for perhaps some of the newer and bigger grp boat owners is..........

Have you come across design flaws in your pride and joy, have you had to modify and if the boat is still or was still in production did you report back to the factory?

Rob :)

If it aint broke do not fix it! 20 year old we all got faults
 
I have a 30 year old boat with extensive starring. I initially paid for the worst areas to be re gel coated 10 years ago. Now I just dig out and enlarge the starring with a chisel and then fill with 3M gel coat repair paste, mainly to maintain water tightness. Seems to work.
 
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