Spiderweb Cracks?

[Bischofftep]

Hello, all!

Recently became the proud owner of a Laser after borrowing one from a buddy for years.

The boat appears to be in good condition all around, having been raced in Oklahoma for a few years, with one exception.

There are a lot of "spiderweb cracks" in the hull. Literally these look exactly like spiderwebs: multiple tiny cracks running next to each other in a curved pattern: like glass does when it's hit with a baseball (don't ask how I know ). These don't appear to be causing leaks at all, and one fellow I asked about this said they were purely cosmetic damage and that they weren't really repairable until they got deep enough to cause a leak.

Just looking for some other opinions!

Many thanks.

 

[macwas16]

What the fellow you ask said is pretty much right. Unless the cracks are deep enough to allow water to enter and soften the gelcoat and finberglass, they're mearly cosmetic. They can, however, be easily fixed if you want to do it now before it becomes a problem in a few years during race season. Simply srape the cracks with a can opener or a dremel tool and fill them with epoxyy and sand.

 

[Goonie]

You make it sound like he should put sand in the cracks !

 

[macwas16]

woops. I suppose it should be...fill them with epoxy, then sand to smooth.

 

[abenn]

My old hull has similar cracks. I just cut back a bit with emery paper and went through the whole sanding/polishing routine. Its a lot smoother now but the patterns of fine cracks are still there. There's no way you can "scrape the cracks out..." 'cos there's hundreds of them. I suppose its come from repeated stressing and flexing of the hull, or maybe a few collisions.
Eventually I think I'll cut it back even more and repaint - probably with MacWas's suggestion of spraying Awlgrip.