Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Hi all,
I have a 1996 Cobia 19 foot. It's been completely reworked, inside and out. Looks and runs excellent (1996 Yamaha 115 2 stroke). I've had it for about a year and the previous owner did all of the work on it. He's a good guy and has been restoring boats for a long time.

One of the things he did was redo the inside with Awlcraft 2000 topped with a light blue non skid surface. Around the captains chairs / cooler is a definite rectangle, almost silouhette, which are obviously 2x4's that were used as support for what I am guessing is for the gas tank that he replaced.

The non-skid floor is VERY slightly cracking around these support beams. I've even noticed a very small (2 inch x 2 inch) very slight soft spot. On one of these "cracks" in the non-skid pad.

It's barely noticeable and only by me - no one else even notices any of this, but I do and need to make sure it's not going to develop into a bigger problem. The bilge area stays almost entirely and although the boat does seem heavy, I've been told that this is a heavy boat to begin with. It runs great and holds up very well in tougher seas.

Could this be a bigger problem, or is there anything I need to do in the meantime? I've been told his support structure wasn't put in exactly right, but I shouldn't have a problem.

Any ideas?? I can post pictures if that helps!

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Welcome flounder, sure bring on some pics!

To help us all enjoy your dilemma please take some pics of the whole boat too, not just of a 2" crack only you can notice ...

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking



Thank you so much for your opinion!!

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Look's like the decking isn't fastened down as well as it could be or the supports aren't sufficient which is allowing for too much give causing the non skid paint to crack. Not sure how that could be if the re-builder actually used 2x4's. That silhouette looks to me like it's from a piece of plywood patched in that location. Some pretty nice looking finishes done on your boat I might add.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Unfortunatly soft spots are indicators of damage already done, and the damage below deck is much greater than what can be dected above.

Post pics of what you've got and you'll get a lot of help on this forum.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

It looks like a bad deck joint where the crack is. This shouldn't happen if the deck on your boat was glassed in properly.

Unfortunatly there are some people that do good looking work, but don't do it correctly because they don't fully understand what they're doing.

Then there are others that will leave and cover up the bad stuff in a boat and slap some nice cosmetics on it to make a quick sale for much more than the boat is atually worth... we see this a lot on this forum. I liken it to rolling a fresh turd in powdered sugar, it looks nice but it's still crap.

The only way to tell what you actually have is to do exploratory surgery, remove a piece of decking at the bad spot so you can see what lies below.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Is there a temp solution for the time being to fill in these cracks or cover them to avoid water getting in and causing more damage? I'm going to have them redone in the winter but for now is there anything I could use to fill in the potential cracks that'll give some temporary help?

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

It'd be difficult to say THIS is what you should do/use.

Remotely via limited pix on the internet, it's not ideal when dealing w/ deck concerns that 'appear' to mask further problems below decks, as Jig mentioned above.

It is your boat, you need to feel confident that the boat is sound & that using it is safe. Just being here, asking the questions your asking, suggests that the little voice in your head is saying that perhaps it isn't. Not a good feeling, and you should probably listen to that voice.

Since you've previously stated:

flounder920 said:

I have a 1996 Cobia 19 foot. It's been completely reworked, inside and out. Looks and runs excellent (1996 Yamaha 115 2 stroke). I've had it for about a year and the previous owner did all of the work on it. He's a good guy and has been restoring boats for a long time.

One of the things he did was redo the inside with Awlcraft 2000 topped with a light blue non skid surface. Around the captains chairs / cooler is a definite rectangle, almost silouhette, which are obviously 2x4's that were used as support for what I am guessing is for the gas tank that he replaced.

The non-skid floor is VERY slightly cracking around these support beams. I've even noticed a very small (2 inch x 2 inch) very slight soft spot. On one of these "cracks" in the non-skid pad.

It's barely noticeable and only by me - no one else even notices any of this, but I do and need to make sure it's not going to develop into a bigger problem. The bilge area stays almost entirely and although the boat does seem heavy, I've been told that this is a heavy boat to begin with. It runs great and holds up very well in tougher seas.

Could this be a bigger problem, or is there anything I need to do in the meantime? I've been told his support structure wasn't put in exactly right, but I shouldn't have a problem.

Click to expand...

I would strongly consider talking to the guy that did the work. NOT in a confrontational/accusatory way, just a 'I'm concerned, can you suggest (perform) a short term fix?" conversation. BUT THAT IS ONLY IF YOU ARE CONFIDENT THAT THERE IS NO REASON FOR FURTHER CONCERN. And as I said above, being here & asking questions suggests that you aren't..........

That last bit I highlighted in blue is also an indicator that you should probably consider carefully what else was (or was not) done to your boat.

Good guys can do bad things to boats, either on purpose (to decieve or hide problems), because they don't have the skills necessary, or don't know better. Any of those 3 can be very problematic for the next owner(s)...........

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Hey there flounder .. and welcome to Iboats ..

I guess the first question I would need to ask is if the Awlcraft 2000 was Rolled/brushed .. or was it Sprayed on.?

Its kinda important ..

YD.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

Yes it was sprayed on I believe.

I have an update that might help. The slight cracking in the non-skid is around a support structure for the newly replaced gas tank. When he put this in place he put it in slightly higher than the actual deck of the boat. So the soft spot is not actually a deck soft spot but it's the area between the support structures height and the actual level of the deck. It's probably 4mm difference, and this is where the cracking is. So the soft spot and cracks are simply a result of the un-evenness between the structure and the deck.

My worry is simply about water getting into the cracks and causing further damage

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

flounder920 said:

Yes it was sprayed on I believe.

I have an update that might help. The slight cracking in the non-skid is around a support structure for the newly replaced gas tank. When he put this in place he put it in slightly higher than the actual deck of the boat. So the soft spot is not actually a deck soft spot but it's the area between the support structures height and the actual level of the deck. It's probably 4mm difference, and this is where the cracking is. So the soft spot and cracks are simply a result of the un-evenness between the structure and the deck.

My worry is simply about water getting into the cracks and causing further damage

Click to expand...

That doesn't even make sense to me. I understand what you're saying, but he did what? Slightly higher then actual deck? That sounds like a new plywood deck was laid over the old deck.

Hope not.

You should be concerned about further damage, but I'd be more concerned then ever after the new info......... For the same reasons I posted before.

A correctly done deck, correctly attached to support structure, w/ a correctly prepped surface & correctly applied AwlGrip, that is well maintained and kept covered & dry when not in use, shouldn't have stress cracking from flexing along the seams of the repair area in a year. IMHO

I wouldn't recommend applying anything to the cracks until you are 100% positive that all is well w/ the area of cracking, it's actual repair method prior to awlgrip was done right, and that everything beyond & below is as it should be. But again that's just IMHO.

Boat safely

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

As stated many times here on the forum, Pics always help us to help you, so we can see what you see. This is a good example of this.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

flounder920 said:

Yes it was sprayed on I believe.

I have an update that might help. The slight cracking in the non-skid is around a support structure for the newly replaced gas tank. When he put this in place he put it in slightly higher than the actual deck of the boat. So the soft spot is not actually a deck soft spot but it's the area between the support structures height and the actual level of the deck. It's probably 4mm difference, and this is where the cracking is. So the soft spot and cracks are simply a result of the un-evenness between the structure and the deck.

My worry is simply about water getting into the cracks and causing further damage

Click to expand...

Ok.. just checkin .. because 2000 should only be sprayed on ( there is no Brush catalist for 2000 ).

If you have a Rise in your deck then your only going to find that the structure will probably hard hit your deck ..

meaning your going to have cracks in the Finish. The finish coat ( Paint ) will not do that well when you have hard points that flexes or moves too much.

YD.

Re: Deck - Non Skid Surface Cracking

If you look to the right of the center console closely in this pic, you'll see the "raised' area I am referring to. Around this is where the 'cracking' is occuring (seen in an earlier pic on the thread)