Hi all,
After my last outing I noticed a hairline crack forming in my centerbord trunk. It runs horizontally about 3 inches down. I pushed it with my finger and it felt springy but I could not tell if it was gelcoat delaminating or a bona fide structural crack. With my fingertips I could lift up the upper surface of the crack so there was definitely loose material. I poked my hand through the access port and felt around the area from inside the hull. I could not feel any cracks or even weakness. I used a pen knife to lift up the delaminated gelcoat to see if the crack extended down into the fiberglass itself. As some of the flaky gelcoat chipped away I found what looked to be pristine and intact gelcoat beneath. The more I inspected I found that the crack appears to extend horizontally forward, around the forward radius of the slot and then partially down the other side. I question if this was there when I bought the boat and just spray painted over.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am wondering if is a joint where the upper deck met with hull during assembly? I had planned on layering additional glass around the trunk, working through the access port. Now I'm not sure that is necessary and I will just need to chip out the loose material and fill with epoxy. Or should i just do nothing? Any advice would be appreciated. The boat was built in 1990 and with the exception of this issue appears to be in very good shape. There is not even a lot of stress cracking in the hull.
After my last outing I noticed a hairline crack forming in my centerbord trunk. It runs horizontally about 3 inches down. I pushed it with my finger and it felt springy but I could not tell if it was gelcoat delaminating or a bona fide structural crack. With my fingertips I could lift up the upper surface of the crack so there was definitely loose material. I poked my hand through the access port and felt around the area from inside the hull. I could not feel any cracks or even weakness. I used a pen knife to lift up the delaminated gelcoat to see if the crack extended down into the fiberglass itself. As some of the flaky gelcoat chipped away I found what looked to be pristine and intact gelcoat beneath. The more I inspected I found that the crack appears to extend horizontally forward, around the forward radius of the slot and then partially down the other side. I question if this was there when I bought the boat and just spray painted over.
Has anyone experienced anything like this? I am wondering if is a joint where the upper deck met with hull during assembly? I had planned on layering additional glass around the trunk, working through the access port. Now I'm not sure that is necessary and I will just need to chip out the loose material and fill with epoxy. Or should i just do nothing? Any advice would be appreciated. The boat was built in 1990 and with the exception of this issue appears to be in very good shape. There is not even a lot of stress cracking in the hull.