Cracks in Skeg

[neilpride]

And this black spot close to the small crack? Are you sure the skeg dont take any Bang !!! from boatyard crews or travelift operator or someone else?

[noelex 77]

It was not clear from blog where the boat is located, but is it possible it has been damage due fresh water expanding and cracking the Skeg?

[savoir]

Originally Posted by IceDog

Here are photos of both sides of the skeg taken for the Yachtworld ad. They clearly show that neither side of the skeg had a crack in it when the boat was put up for sale. The boat has not been in the water since then. I believe that both cracks are the result of a boatyard incident. Perhaps the boat got dropped during a move. Anyway, I am not overly concerned. To my eye, the large crack looked fresh and the lower one looked older but I don't think the boat has been in the water with either crack open.

Not at all. They clearly show that there were no visible cracks when the photo was taken which may not be the same day. Given the new bottom paint the photo might well have been taken before the first launching.

There is a third crack not yet mentioned. It is a hairline crack running along the middle of the skeg on the port side.

I took another look at the second photo in post #1. It looked to me like the leading edge of the keel but I have just realized that it is the aft edge of the rudder skeg. Sorry for the confusion.

[IceDog]

Noelex 77, the boat is in Green Cove Springs, Florida so icing shouldn't be an issue. The wood doesn't appear to be bulging but rather that the fiberglass pulled away from the wood in that spot.

Savoir, the photos of the skeg without cracks were taken by the broker, not the previous owner so they were taken in 2009 when the boat was put up for sale. The photo of the skeg with the crack before it got longer was taken by the surveyor in February.

[model 10]

Before you blame this boatyard for some misdeed look at the boat. If the boat can't be lifted or blocked without cracking then perhaps it's not the boatyards fault. And, which boatyard might have done this? The boat was moved down to this marina not built there.

[IceDog]

I have not blamed, nor do I blame the boatyard. They are great people and I am happy to have the boat there. What I have said is that the photos show that the cracks were not there in 09 when the boat was put up for sale. It has been in the boatyard ever since. Therefore it is reasonable to assume they started with an "incident" in the boatyard. It could be something the PO did while working on the boat that caused the cracks to develop from a defect in his building of the skeg. In a previous thread from prior to my purchase of the boat, I discussed the skeg design and that it was wider than the specification, and I decided that I would rebuild it if needed, factoring that into my offer. It makes me laugh out loud to think that some folks here think the boat might be too underbuilt to move. Thank you for that. Laughs are hard to come by here in Afghanistan. Here is what Bob and Connie had to say about this boat after they had a good look at it:

"Connie and I looked at this boat a while back. All we can say is she's bilt hell for stout!! she needed a little more work then what we wanted to do ! I see the price has dropped since we looked at her! I saw nothing with the prop set up that would be a problem ! If ya want a stout boat that needs some work to be ready and can get it for the right price, You would might wnt to give this boat a look see, or have someone ya trust look at it for ya ! for a younger fella that don't mind the work it would be a good one, if the price is right !! just our 2 cents"

My main concern is actually that it is too overbuilt. It has a fiberglass layer over layers of cold molded plywood adding up to 11/2" thick and supported by 2X2" oak frames.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Being too overbuilt can be as bad as too underbuilt - as puts stress where never intended. Adding "a bit more" a common practice for DIY builders......not to say that I have anything against a boat having a bit of weight, me is more on the heavy old lump end of the spectrum! - albeit I acknowledge that as much about me (and my own mental comfort) as it is about boat design / build.

[ErBrown]

Icedog - Let me say first that I've followed your posts on buying the boat from afar, traveling home to relax with the wife and then heading to FL to finally meet your boat in person, with a good deal of gusto. I won't pretend to have any deep knowledge about sailboats, I've owned a variety of boats but am very new to sailing. Which is what drew me to your story, I'm still in the research, learning, practicing, and saving stage of my journey towards me perfect, or at least, perfect for wife and I, cruiser. So I truly want nothing more than to see your planning and dream come to fruition...so I can read about it and think about the day when we'll be doing the same.

That being said, if I was in your shoes, half way around the world from my boat and future home, I'd probably be reaching out to a good reputable shipwright or trusted consultant of some kind. I'd want someone to take a look at it in depth and get to the bottom of this, the pictures of the cracks, if taken alone look pretty bad but when put in context with the 2009 pics seem (possibly) less concerning. In my mind it would be worth a few bucks to get to the bottom of the issue. My hope is that a minor crack developed due to a boatyard mishap and then water exasperated the problem. I truly hope the gloom and doom crowd is wrong here, but if it was me I'd have to find out for sure, so I could plan accordingly.

Good luck and here's wishing you a happy ending to this mystery. I'm looking forward to reading about y'alls progress.

-EB