Gell coat cracks

mr gibbs2

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
121
Any recommendations on repairing spider crack on my boat ? Should I just have a shop do the whole top deck ,or try or repair it myself ,I've done some fiberglass work but this need to look good thanks
 

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ondarvr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
11,527
You can get rid of the stains with some oxalic acid, then get some quotes on the repar.
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
I agree ^^^, Get some of this...
6163mP888wL._SY355_.jpg
and let it soak a while. Then usa a stiff bristle brush and get it all cleaned up. The textured parts will be problematic but if you have a shop do it they should be able to handle it. If you want to try and do it there are vendors who have repair kits that have "Mats" that you can press into the gelcoat repair to copy the pattern. Spider cracks are tedious to repair. You have to use a dremel tool or a v-bit on a drill and groove out each vein of the spidering and then clean them and fill them with gelcoat paste. Then sand and polish. One of the most difficult parts is getting the gelcoat color to match. Even the PRO's will have problems with that.;)
 

DeepBlue2010

Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 19, 2010
Messages
1,304
More important than drilling and filling them is to determine why they developed int he first place. Spider cracks are there for a reason, if the gel is too thick, they will appear again after the "fix". The cracks in the gel acts as relieves of the rigid surface so new cracks are not developing but once you get the surface solid again, they are likely to reappear if the reason for them is that the gel is too thick.

One other reason I can think of, specially that they all appear to originate around deck fittings, is that there was no counter sinking done for the holes of the fittings screws.

In any event, this is an involved repair, fixing the cracks by drilling/filling them one by one is not what I would do for the reasons I mentioned above and also for the color matching issues that will develop in the future. What I would do is to grind down to fiberglass and re-gel but like I said this is a task require some skills.

Check with your insurance if this will be covered under your comprehensive and get quotes from good repair shops. best of luck to you
 

mr gibbs2

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
121
I just brought the boat knowing it had the cracks !it's a 1999 hydra sports 2250 vector , I think I should go the year the way it is but will clean it and wax it .im sure there are no backing plates on the loose bow rale, and some of the screws or bolts are the wrong size and are not set . I know why ,so that is the only reason I went ahead with he purchase . The previous owner did not even know what I was talking about when I said somthing ,anyway it just sat on a mooring and he leaned on the rails to get on the mooring . Any idea of a fair price from a shop would be ?
 

mr gibbs2

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 20, 2004
Messages
121
Yes the area under the rail . The rest of the boat is good
 

Woodonglass

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Messages
25,924
Different areas of the country have different shop rates. I'm guessing $5-600 bucks.
 
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