Nice crack I just found on the keel...

[ocuyler]

You JUST found that?

I agree with Capt. Chuck. This is repeated power loading gouging. Yes, the trailer needs to be set up properly. If you treated your kid with that degree of recklessness and neglect, we'd see you on CNN... We're advising SeaCraft child services.

Seriously, you will need to dig in there to find the end of the damage and start your repair from there. Best of luck.

[Yamtt125]

I am glad to say that I didn't cause it...I bought the hull completely stripped in january of 06' as a project, and I have yet to be out on it. The guy that I bought it from only owned it for mabey a couple years at most, and he did buy a roller trailer for it, but its not much of anything, and is most likely set up wrong, and deffinately doesn't have enough rollers. The plan is to restore her, and keep her in a slip, so the trailer thing isn't really a big deal. For some reason i just never looked at the very bottom...atleast i can say that even if i knew the damage was there, i still would have bought the boat.

Does anybody think that i could do the repair with no or very little acess through the floor? I had planned to redo the floor in a couple years because i just want to get her on the water. There aren't any soft spots in the floor. I have replaced the wood in the transom though.
Thanks for that advice thus far...i'll prob be able to post more pics tomorro of what i uncover.

[FELLOW-SHIP]

The problem from working from the bottom with out flipping the boat is gravity. You are wanting the epoxy and glass to seep into not separate from your working surface but if you use the vacuum bag method that will overcome the gravity issues.
Things to do:
1. grind, grind, grind to there is no more crack and then feather it out 4 to 6” out from there. If you run out of hull glass and put a hole in the boat’s bottom so be it.
2. determine if you have to go into this project from the inside. If you do that means removing the CC, and gas tank, it’s deck, and removing the wood center stringer.
3. rebuild with epoxy and glass to ½” thick hull or maybe a little more that that. Using Vacuum bag method. Then repair scratches all around and re gel coat the entire bottom of the boat then if you are putting in the water bottom paint.

This looks like a keg of Beer type job to me + I hate working upside down. This job should be done on boat stands not on the trailer and to get her up in the air a high as possible so you can access the bottom easier. Sorry for the bad report but it is what it is.

FellowShip

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My motto: Just for the Grins

[Yamtt125]

I started to grind away at the 3 ft section with the crack, and this is what i found...

-the wood from the center stringer in in good shape.
-it looks like there is a small gap between the stringer and the hull that was once filled with a cabosil mixture, but since then has broken up.

Just incase anybody had a question, this section in in the forward part of the boat. The mid and rear of the boat seems fine. If I was to flip the boat, would I be able to fix her that way? From what I can tell by looking at the stringer near the transom, the center stringer is in good condition.

[Finster]

Yamit, that's a tough repair and should unfortunately be done from the inside. I've been down that road and all my efforts to make the repairs from the outside always returned, plus it's very difficult to fare out with the thickness of glass you'll need to layup. And the area you'll need to cover needs to be much larger than what you have sanded.

Good luck.

[Yamtt125]

Fin,
To me, its a really wierd situation..i'm still trying to think of why this happened, and the best thing that i can come up with is abuse from being beached ALOT. The pressure from the wieght of the boat being put on that small amount of glass on the bottom makes sense, and all of the scratches would also make sense.
The glass that is around the wood center stringer on the inside of the boat seems to be in good condition. In the first 2 pics, this can kinda be seen, but the view isn't the best.
I still don't know what i'm gonna do..

Does anybody have pics of similar projects and how they solved it?

-andrew

[Finster]

abuse from being beached ALOT

From the sinario's I've seen that's been the culprit. Not to say improper trailing couldn't do it either. Or a combo of both.

Even something as stupid as this that happened last weekend next to my house (please note silly geezer to the right that couldn't keep his mug out of every frig'n pic).

[FELLOW-SHIP]

The thing that needs to be determined First of all, is this a Structural problem? Or is this just a hole because of some sort of damage like the picture of the over anxious boater who launched his boat before he got to the dock.
If this is Structural then the best way is the Only way to do it. If this is just a hole in a very bad location you could go with the easy way.

The best way:
Go in from the inside first remove stringer build up area that stringer was with woven roven starting with 3 pieces 18” wide then 3 pieces 12” wide the 3 pieces 6” wide in the area of the hole going 2 feet in front and behind then building a lateral bulk head from port to starboard stringer for additional structural support using lots of glass. Then you can use the vacuum bag approach or flip the boat and build up the bottom to approx ½” glass thickness then gel coat and bottom paint.
For me the Best Way is the Only Way to go.

But for the easy way:
Sand the bottom paint off and get to the gel coat 1 Foot wide on both sides of the center line and inspect for additional cracks grind a little further forward and back of the hole to confirm you got all the cracks out feather it out more, flip the boat or vacuum bag the hole and HOPE you fixed it instead of just putting a bandage over a skin cancer.

If you are right and someone worked on this area before than forget the bandage and go for the best way.

There is a lot of sweat equity in this one really not that much $$ to fix it. 2 Gal of epoxy and glass and Lots of Beer will do it. Getting to the area doing the work putting it back together again would be Lots of work.

FellowShip

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My motto: Just for the Grins