I copied this from another site of someone who know's. SORRY KAHUNA.....THIS GUY DONT KNOW ANYTHING. THIS IS A BIG LOAD OF MALE COW MANURE Sea Ray sued him and lost. THIS IS MORE THAN LIKELY DUE TO THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH LAW, AND NOTHING TO DO ABOUT CORRECT INFORMATION
There are several reasons why rot occurs in structures that are ostensibly "glassed over.". The first is what I call the GEICO SYNDROME (we all do dumb things) when the builder does something dumb like boxing the stringers like Sea Ray does. In this case, numerous leaks in decks and windows caused the pockets formed by the stringers to fill up with water because there was no drainage-- and being boxed in, no on could see what was going on down there. Secondly, and this is a common problem, is that the "fiberglass" consisted of chopped strand mat is about as porous as a sea strainer, even when painted with gel coat.
Next, builders routinely paint wood with gel coat to make it look nice, but looking nice doesn't help much because water goes right through gel coat and gel coat doesn't stick to wood so good. When the wood absorbs water, it swells and the gel coat cracks, allowing in even more water.
The third problem is when the builder does a sloppy job of encapsulating the wood framing system, water gets in and never leaves-- ye old osmosis where water goes one way but not the other-- you'll find things like limber holes and exposed wood in places. Many builders like to paint the wood with gel coat so that it looks like protected. As you know, water goes right through gel coat, the wood gets wet and swells, which is why you often see all those cracks when you open the hatches.
Another part of the problem is that the quality of wood being used is often akin to Home Depot lumber-- third rate stuff like sugar pine and the world's cheapest plywood. Often the builders claim that the wood is treated when it isn't -- otherwise, why would it rot so fast? If that's the case, there isn't much you can do to prevent deterioration except to buy a better quality boat next time around.
