Cracks in my hull, NOW happiness in my heart. *Pics*

[SeanMcl]

I was out looking at my boat and noticed some cracks in the hull. They appear to be the "hairline" variety, but one of them I can feel with my fingernail when I scratch it. So after some searching on these forums, I went and took a closer look. Someone tell me how much trouble I am in and what my next move should be.

It certainly looks like the damage was done by an impact. There are two sets of cracks, making roughly a football shape. The cracks never meet up. When I push in the middle of the cracks the hull flexes very slightly and a "crunchy sound" is heard, I am guessing from the foam. If I push outside of the football shaped area, the hull does not flex at all and makes no sound. The cracks are on the passenger side, almost directly under the passenger seat. I have not drilled holes anywhere to check for water, but I imagine that there is a great amount of pressure where the cracks are and water was probably forced in. The boat has not been in the water since 2003, and has been stored in a heated garage with the bow up and the plug out. The gelcoat does not apear to be delaminating or chipping, the only outward sign of damage is the cracks.

I took pictures, but hairline cracks don't show up well. I put my hand in the middle of the football shaped area for size reference. The difficult to see cracks are on the right side of the strake my thumb is resting on. They mirror the cracks near my pinky finger.

Pics of the hull cracks:
http://http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3640206316_44cf857cce_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3366/3640276146_88339d3857_b.jpg

Link to pics of the rest of the boat, if anyone wants to see a pretty clean 1974 Gulfstream. The boat has belonged to my parents since 1982. I took ownership 2 weeks ago.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28458225@N06/sets/72157619944149472/

 

[sea wolf]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

You should have posted in the restoration forum. But, in my opinion you have to remove the deck to see what's going on inside the hull. You may have a bad stringer. That crunching sound you hear don't sound good.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

I agree with sea_wolf. Sounds like a rotten stringer or as you thought maybe an impact that damaged the sub structure. Sadly I think you're going to have to rip out the deck to see what's going on in there. On the bright side though, that is a beautiful boat that will be well worth whatever effort is required to make her right again. Sorry about your bum luck.

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Man i like that boat. The Yellow is really bright though. I am looking at the slide show on that link you posted.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28458225@N06/sets/72157619944149472/show/

 

[SeanMcl]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Thanks for the replies, and to whoever moved this to the right forum.

Removing the deck would involve cutting the fiberglass around the edges, and then pulling the deck up in one piece, correct? That sounds like a job I'd rather not do, but if it needs it then I'll do it offseason. The deck itself is solid, will I be able to just epoxy/fiberglass it back in, or does it get destroyed in the removal process?

I'm thinking of drilling holes in the deck behind where the damage is, and if I find water or soaked foam then pulling the deck. If it is dry and the stringers are good, then I'd just make a 2x2 foot square hole in the deck, repair the damage through that hole and then seal that shut. I guess with epoxy, but I'd find out for sure before I try it. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

.......

I'm thinking of drilling holes in the deck behind where the damage is, and if I find water or soaked foam then pulling the deck. If it is dry and the stringers are good, then I'd just make a 2x2 foot square hole in the deck, repair the damage through that hole and then seal that shut. I guess with epoxy, but I'd find out for sure before I try it. Does that sound reasonable?

That is what I would do. Check for the water, then remove a section that can be glassed back in. Although CDX ply is fairly cheap, you can replace the piece with CDX if need be.

When removing foam in a tight spot, I found that a 3" hole saw in cordless drill works well. After you pull out the first 3" plug, the rest are easy, drill into the foam, **** the drill sideways to snap off the foam, push out of the bit, and drill another. It will clear a small space in no time at all. Have a shop vac handy to suck up the foam dust. And you might want to remove the center bit so it doesn't go through the hull by accident.

Good luck!

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

I'd recommend carefully cutting a patch out of the deck to see what the problem is. It may be that it's rot, but it could also just be a structural problem caused by the passenger seat or an impact. The thing is, you need enough access to *see* what's happening.

If the boat's been inside as long as you say then it may be mostly dry, or at least not look wet enough to be a problem.

What you really need to do is get a good enough view of the inside of the hull at that point to see what's happening.

It might just be that you took an impact from the outside that gave you that soft spot, and there's no water inside and nothing behind it but foam, in which case you do a patch on the inside to fix the structural problem then repair the gel coat on the outside.

Erik

 

[Phoenixfirewalker]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

i perfectly agree with the fellows here

peek in to see if wet. you'll be amazed how long humidity is preserved in a contained and foamed enviroment.

I also beleive is prob just a stringer. which means you just got a great opportunity to learn a little about the structural means of a boat and after a repair like this you will have the confidense to attack the more serious opportunities the nautical world will put in front of you.

so embrace this opportunity because it could have been worse.

NEXT----> GO TO THE RESTORATION FORUM!

they'll hook you up

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Hello Sean..

All good suggestions here..but I personally would start simple.

The noise you hear could be dead gel or glass..YOU know your going to have to at least grind the gelcoat off in the area of the cracks ( they dont look that bad. IMO would be much larger if that severe ). So do that FIRST.. get that gelcoat off and inspect the glass for damage from the outside.

Worst case .. you go digging and drilling etc. BUT you might find its just in the outer layers of glass from a hardpoint on the stringer. That doesnt mean you have to mod the stringer though.. You might just be able to put a more structural glass replacing the "skin" coat of the boat.

Just take a sander or grinder on the outside .. wipe it with some acetone to look for dead "white" fractured glass. Take some pics and see whatcha got

YD.

PS. sometimes it looks worse the it is..sometimes worse than it looks.. you start simple.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Hello Sean..

All good suggestions here..but I personally would start simple.

The noise you hear could be dead gel or glass..YOU know your going to have to at least grind the gelcoat off in the area of the cracks ( they dont look that bad. IMO would be much larger if that severe ). So do that FIRST.. get that gelcoat off and inspect the glass for damage from the outside.

Worst case .. you go digging and drilling etc. BUT you might find its just in the outer layers of glass from a hardpoint on the stringer. That doesnt mean you have to mod the stringer though.. You might just be able to put a more structural glass replacing the "skin" coat of the boat.

Just take a sander or grinder on the outside .. wipe it with some acetone to look for dead "white" fractured glass. Take some pics and see whatcha got

YD.

PS. sometimes it looks worse the it is..sometimes worse than it looks.. you start simple.

good thinking, no sense paying interest on borrowed troubles.

 

[SeanMcl]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

You might just be able to put a more structural glass replacing the "skin" coat of the boat.

Just take a sander or grinder on the outside .. wipe it with some acetone to look for dead "white" fractured glass. Take some pics and see whatcha got

YD.

OK, I like the "start simple" approach. To make sure I am doing the right things in the right order, please double check me on this:

Step 1. I'm going to drill several test holes in the deck directly above and behind the hull damage. If I find no soaked foam or wet stringer, then the hull probably hasn't been compromised and I may be able to stop at step 2. If it's wet, I have to do all 3 steps.

Step 2. To repair the gelcoat, I slowly and carefully sand or grind the gelcoat layer of the hull down to where the fiberglass starts. Once I get past the clear gelcoat and start hitting fiberglass, I stop, wipe the area down with acetone and look to make sure the cracks did not go through the gelcoat into the actual fiberglass hull. If the cracks are just in the gelcoat, I put new gelcoat on, sand it smooth, wax it and go boating.

Step 3 if needed. If the cracks go through the gelcoat and into the fiberglass, then I probably just missed finding the trapped water with my test holes and will have to repair the damage from topside. It will probably include cutting a big square hole above the damage, removing foam, laying new fiberglass to cover and strengthen the hull where it cracked, stringer repair, new foam, glassing the access hole shut, etc.

Am I missing anything or doing anything out of order? All of your comments and advice has been, and will continue to be, greatly appreciated.

 

[SeanMcl]

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Re: Cracks in my hull, sadness in my heart. *Pics*

Last night I drilled about 10 test holes in the deck. A few directly above, and the rest progressively behind where the damage is. I got nothing but dry sawdust and white powder. I ran the bit all the way down till I heard it vibrate when it hit the hull. I found where the stringers are on that side, and their holes came up with dark, dry wood curls as well.

I also blew some compressed air down one hole while sniffing the air that came out the other holes. I figured if water was down there it would smell musty and dank. Smelled like nothing, just plain air.

Now I'll be sealing a few holes in the deck, but so far, so good.

Next I'll grind down the cracked gelcoat and put new on. I hope I can buy it in pint jars, I don't need much.

Does anyone know if Gulfstream used flotation foam under the deck back in '74? When I drilled through the deck I thought I'd pull up foam in the drill bit flutes, but I didn't. I can see the foam between the transom and the rear seats, and I ran the drill bit into it to see if I could pull foam out that way, and I got a nice sample of it in the drill bit. Just none from under the deck. I prodded around with the drill bit, but it felt hollow, except where the stringers are.