Cracks in Gelcoat

petermb72

Cadet
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
20
I have a Glastron GX 185 SF and it has some cracks in the gelcoat around the tow hook as well as a few other places. Is this something I should be worried about? Can these cracks be fixed or will they just crack again?
 

bjcsc

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Messages
1,805
Re: Cracks in Gelcoat

How old is the boat? If it's under warranty have it fixed. If not, don't worry about the cracks but find out what is creating the stress that's causing them, i.e. you may need a larger backing plate for the tow eye, etc...
 

12vMan

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Jun 4, 2008
Messages
1,536
Re: Cracks in Gelcoat

It's possible the 'spider cracks' as they're called in the tow hook may have been caused by towing an over-sized boat, probably in rough water where the pressure on the hook would increase with the waves or something similar.

They will only get worse, but they can be repaired fairly inexpensively (or under warranty like bjcsc stated) if taken care of at an early stage.

The entire area needs to be ground down through the cracks and re-gel coated and color matched.

Depending on wether the other cracks are located at hull stress points or not can be determined when you take the boat in to have an estimate done, which is what I would do.:cool:
 
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