Cockpit damage advice

H'portLaserer

H'portLaserer

Member
During one of the first sails in my brand new Laser, I put the daggerboard in the cockpit when moving the boat on the dolly. I noticed later that the trailing daggerbaord corner poked a hole through the gelcoat in the aft lower cockpit corner. See the picture attached.

Two questions:
-How do I best repair this (it is fragile around the hole and gets bigger every time I go near it)? I planned to use Marine Tex that I have on hand but is gelcoat the better answer?

-Should I be worried about any effects of having sailed it before noticing and had water in the cockpit? There seems to be some air space between the gelcoat and the glass along the bottom rounded edges (between the walls and floor), which I think explains why this damage happened so easily.

Thanks for any advice
 

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If this is a brand new laser you need to call your dealer. It sounds like there is a void in your gelcoat and the dealer either needs to fix it or replace the boat.
 
Yeah, unless you were more violent than you're letting on, this shouldn't have happened from the daggerboard rattling round the cockpit while you're wheeling the boat around the launch area.

If the boat is, as you say, "brand new" then I would be making a warranty claim if I were in your shoes.
 
Laser #190401...new in August and sailed about a dozen times to date. After noticing the damage I covered it with silicone to keep out water until I was able to get the boat home to be repaired. Based on your responses, I plan to call the dealer. I had been blaming myself for putting the board there but I sailed a '82 for 25 years and often did this with no problems. And I certainly didn't do anything more violent than pulling my boat along with the dolly.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
you would think if the cockpit was built right, then the corner of the dagger would have broken before the place you sit/stand in would have. Seems like a defect. Let us know what the dealer says...
 
You guys were right, the dealer says it's a warranty item and is getting it repaired. He didn't sound at all surprised and says he's seen gel coat voids in this area on other boats. I'm pleasantly surprised at the responsiveness.
Thanks again
 
H'portLaserer said:
You guys were right, the dealer says it's a warranty item and is getting it repaired. He didn't sound at all surprised and says he's seen gel coat voids in this area on other boats. I'm pleasantly surprised at the responsiveness.
Thanks again
Click to expand...

That's a good response from the dealer. But I would be worried about other gel coat voids elsewhere on the boat.
 
You shouldn't worry about other voids on this boat anymore than any other Laser. I understand from the UK PSE builder that virtually all boats come out of the mould with some voids which are usually deteted and repaired prior to sale. I don't see why your boat is any more likely to have further hidden voids than anyone else.
 
The dealer is Sturgis Boatworks in Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod. They have been a pleasure to deal with and I am very happy with their response. They did not hesitate to conclude that they would put in a warranty claim on this and get it repaired immediately. They also said they would check the boat (by "tapping around") for any additional voids.
 
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