Cabintop Gelcoat Peeling

[cburger]

The continuing s/v Moondance refit saga: I was at the boat yesterday removing and filling a couple of cabintop fittings relating to an old dodger installation. I have been noticing a lot of what appeared to be peeling of the cabintop paint. Upon removal of the fittings a large piece of what appears to be gelcoat lifted with the old bedding compound. I can tell this is gel as I can now see the firberglass strands. I am also starting to think that the individuals who sold us the boat gave the cabintop a quick coat of fresh Interlux to disguise the issue. As the cracking seems fairly extensive it looks like we are facing a fairly time consuming repair. I am wondering if any members have experinced this problem and what was done to fix the problem?

CB

[Alan Wheeler]

Sand back and paint with a good two pot. It's a boat. Boats and Hardwork are coheasively joined. There is no escaping it. I would say the PO tried to escape it and you are reaping the result of his lazyness.

[Ex-Calif]

Pictures would be nice.

You do need to get a good handle on the extent of the delamination, if in fact that is what it is.

You could walk each square inch of the cabin top looking for soft spots. Step with the ball of your foot and make any spots that flex.

You can also try a tap test. Get a heavy washer and a marker pen. Proceed in a logical pattern tapping with the washer listening for "hollow" spots. Mark them all up.

That should give you an idea of the area. You may be in for some simple fair and fill or if it really is delamination, a quite extensive structural repair.