First Boat! New 14.2 to me, lots of questions

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prig0026

Member
Just bought a 1990 14.2 and have plenty of questions. The boat looked in really good shape but I have a couple of things on my mind right after the purchase. (probably would have been better to ask before I bought it!)

- The boat has some hairline cracks in the gelcoat around the seats up where it meets the deck. There are also some hairline cracks right below the seats where it curves into the floor. I've read that some superficial gelcoat cracks are normal, but to what extent? Some of these are 2-3 feet long. Is this normal?

- The owner took a couple of fittings off the boat so that he didn't snag himself on them. He never patched the holes though. What would I use to do this? Or what fittings were here from the factory. See pic.

- Since the previous owner stored it in the water he had antifouling paint on the bottom. Looks ok, but is kind of dirty. What is the best way to clean it? Or should I strip it off since I won't be keeping the boat in the water for more than a few days at a time.

I'll ad more pics when I pick it up. Any thoughts are appreciated.

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The paint on the bottom can be cleaned using most any marine cleaning product, but do not use car wax, it will become sticky once it gets back into the water. The bottom paint will slow the boat down, not a problem unless you plan on racing it. Hairline cracks are normal, the boat is 30 years old. Your boat is just like mine and most other members, if you would like you can contact me direct at [email protected]. and I can answer most of your questions and also pass along some hints about what to do to make the boat safer and therefore more fun.
 
Any thoughts on how to fill those holes in the deck? (hopefully they haven't had much water down them in the past)
 
I came into the dock way to fast one time and took a piece out of the bow about the size of me thumbnail. I used Marine-Tex White to fix it. The color was even almost right too. It is a two part epoxy and should work fine for those small holes I see in your pictures. I bought mine at West Marine. It is made by Philadelphia Resins. www.marinetex.com
 
By the way, those two black plastic things up on the bow are called fair leads. They are used to run the roller furling line through, back to the cockpit.
 
Me again, the boat weighs about 300 pounds and 3-4 people can lift it off the trailor and lay it upside down on your lawn. Use sandpaper on a block to smooth the bottom paint down, not remove it completly. The smoother the bottom is the faster the boat will sail. I have never smoothed out the bottom paint on my boat and so far my top speed is 5.8 knots ( I used my handheld gps to get that number). That day it was me and another adult aboard and in about 12 knots of wind we had our feet under the hiking staps and were both hiked out a fair amount. Lot's of fun, as the kids would say "we were cooking".
 
Thanks for the info! Do you know if where those two holes are, there used to be a factory fitting? If so, what would it have been? Just a cleat?
 
I have seen at about ten 14.2 Capri's and none had those holes, so I think they were for cleats, that were removed because the jib sheets hung up on them.
 
You might want to think about using stainless beauty/trim rings and either screws or bolts to cover those extra holes. They would look nice and not be in the way of the jib sheets. Then you would not have to worry about matching the color.
 
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