seeing daylight through hull

[Yamonbato]

here is my problem, last week we had rain and some of it went inside my boat, as I was vacuuming the hull i noticed that i could see daylight through it, as if the hull wasn't thick enough, is that something I should be concerned about or is it normal, some of my friends are saying that there is defenitely a fabrication problem, or it was damaged in an accident but was badly repaired. The part where i noticed this is where the left side meets the right in the lower bow part of the boat. Is this repairable or should i forget about it and get rid of the boat?

the boat is a 2003 Nordic Thunder 1860, the dealership offered to either repair it or take it back and sell me something else instead but there is a 5000$ difference for me to pay, since the only other boat of that size is newer and more expensive.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: seeing daylight through hull

A fiberglass laminate is not opaque, depending on the exact resin and glass it can be almost as transparent as a window pane, to a dark amber that will still allow a good deal of light to pass through. Gel coat can be somewhat translucent too, so it's very common for a perfectly good laminate to have visible light coming through it. They frequently use gel coat or paint on the inside of the hull and deck to stop light from being seen from the inside.

Now I can't see what your hull looks like, but just seeing light through it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it, and can be normal.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: seeing daylight through hull

the boat is a 2003 Nordic Thunder 1860, the dealership offered to either repair it or take it back and sell me something else instead but there is a 5000$ difference for me to pay, since the only other boat of that size is newer and more expensive.

Yup..the repair would probably be a coat of Gel ..

Can you see any indication of repair on the inside ? .. If not then even if was repaired its most likely a good repair. Not too many Hacker glass guys make it so you dont see the Inside of the repair done .

Light can be seen through on alot of unpainted/gelled insides.

YD.

 

[FastFission]

Re: seeing daylight through hull

I noticed a similar thing this spring when I looked in forward bilge on a sunny day and saw daylight. Looking closer, the gel coat was rubbed off the keel for a couple feet, and the sunlight was coming through a scupper under the forward bunk. The glass was fine. I just got done installing a keel guard, and no more sunlight.