[C320-list] Dealing with small hull cracks

Kevin Rooney krooney at gmail.com
Wed Jul 18 11:23:03 PDT 2018


I recently got the boat out of the water for the first time in a while.
I've got her on the hard for a few weeks. While working on the hull I found
five small cracks like this (video):

https://youtu.be/oM72o1IWkUg

That is the largest of them (by far) and the only one that water was coming
out of (it has since dried up). When emailed for an opinion on what to do,
my marina's owner (who is also an experienced marine engineer) replied with
this:

"These areas are where water has migrated through the gelcoat surface. You
can grind them out, fill with epoxy filler and cover with epoxy resin. Or
for right now just let them dry out and put a coat of epoxy resin over them
to seal them."


Any thoughts on how you would address this? Factor in that time is of the
essence as I've already missed half the season (and after I paint the
bottom and she is splashed I have engine work that is needed). I'll put her
out again in the fall.

I'm leaning toward just using a Dremel tool to open the cracks a bit and
clean them out, and then filling with epoxy. Is that enough? Am I just
setting myself up for future issues?

Thanks.

Kevin
S/V Cecilia Ann, #211
Deale, MD
http://kevjot.com/boat/


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