1979 Islander 28

[BlueMoonF82]

Greetings all.

I was recently in the process of selling my vessel when a survey brought things to a screeching halt. During inspection after the Haul out a subtle 1' long verticle "crease" found on the starboard side was identified. The surveyor said it was inline with the mast and on the bulkhead which is suggestive of a stress fracture in the fiberglass. Perhaps due to age, perhaps due to aggressive heeling, or other. No moisture identified by his metering device. My wife and I have sailed her 6-8 times in 18 months, as we were new to the whole sailing thing and it took awhile to get our nerve up to leave the marina. We took some lessons and away we went. We did heel some in our trips, but thought that was the whole point of sailing. I have no idea of who to contact to evaluate for repairs, etc. Fiberglass expert or other? Thoughts? Thanks.

[Tayana42]

Ouch. Not fun to have that kind of problem. Someone here can advise you but it would help if you indicate where you are located.


S/V B'Shert

[BlueMoonF82]

I am located north of Seattle.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by BlueMoonF82

Greetings all.

I was recently in the process of selling my vessel when a survey brought things to a screeching halt. During inspection after the Haul out a subtle 1' long verticle "crease" found on the starboard side was identified. The surveyor said it was inline with the mast and on the bulkhead which is suggestive of a stress fracture in the fiberglass. Perhaps due to age, perhaps due to aggressive heeling, or other. No moisture identified by his metering device. My wife and I have sailed her 6-8 times in 18 months, as we were new to the whole sailing thing and it took awhile to get our nerve up to leave the marina. We took some lessons and away we went. We did heel some in our trips, but thought that was the whole point of sailing. I have no idea of who to contact to evaluate for repairs, etc. Fiberglass expert or other? Thoughts? Thanks.

Heeling is definitely part of sailing, you didn't do anything wrong. Perhaps it was there before and you never noticed. In any case do you have some photos? Is this "crease" on or near a bulkhead? I am suspecting that the tabbing holding a bulkhead to the hull gave way. If it were my boat I'd start planning to do some grinding and major glass work inside where this crease is, I am betting it can be remedied. Do you have a local boatyard? They can give advice and estimate too of course.

[BlueMoonF82]

Thanks. I do have boat yard, but I haven't been able to speak with then yet as everything just came to light yesterday. I'll try to include a couple of pics though they are dark. The crease is above the waterline moving vertically just behind the forward Haul out strap on the starboard side.

[BlueMoonF82]

Oh and Don, the inspector indicated it appeared to be near the bulkhead as it was in same line as a line extending down the mast.

[sailorchic34]

To my eye that looks like it was caused by a hard impact to the exterior of the hull, perhaps by a dock edge. I don't see how the bulkhead could shift and leave a indent at just that location. Tab's failing would generally not pull the hull in. My guess is the indent is just before or behind the bulkhead and caused by impact at a dock finger edge. That corresponds to the height of the indent too.

Fix for that would be to grind back 12" either side of the gash and reglass and paint. A fairly easy, if time consuming fix.

[BlueMoonF82]

Wow Sailorchic thanks. Easy, time consuming and less expensive suits me. FYI the horizontal scratch you see, affectionately known as our learning curve was from our earlier days before actually sailing and just learning about getting in and out of our slip. The scratch was from our neighbors kicker when the telescoping boat hook failed. A misrable day that was. We have never struck the sides of the boat against a dock, the bow once, but perhaps prior to us. I don't remember seeing the crease before, but it is quite subtle. Thanks for responding.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by markwesti

A dock impact would be horizontal , that divot is vertical . I'm thinking at one point the boat was hauled and the strap was not positioned correctly .

If it hit at the end edge of a concrete finger dock that would do it. It would take quite a hit though and generally caused by high winds. I can't think of a way a bulkhead shifting, that would make an indent just there when the chain plate is inboard. Unless the chain plate is connected that far down the hull.

If it was an uplift force from the chainplate, there should be a crease all the way up. the hull

[Don C L]

Well, I am with sailorchic on this, but I'd like to see photos of the inside of the boat where the crease is too, as long as there is no liner in the way. Can you see anything in there, maybe behind a cabinet behind the sink? Hard to tell. To be repaired it may be necessary to get at it from the inside. It looks like something struck it or the boat was pushed against something sharp from the opposite side. Fiberglass is generally pretty strong and very repairable. If the bulkheads are solid and tabbing is undamaged that would be a real plus but if it was struck it may have caused damage to the two bulkheads there.

[roverhi]

That's kind of a weird problem. I seem to be seeing an indentation in the hull not just a scratch. You can verify that. Normally, even a hard hit will pop back out only leaving crazing in the gelcoat even though the glass is fractured and/or the tabbing bond of the interior bulkhead or furniture is broken loose. If the bonding is still good inside and the glass is not fractured, wonder if it could be there from manufacture or storage with the boat leaning against something long enough for the glass to take a permanent deformation. We ended up with an indentation below the waterline when the rainy season caused the cradle to sink into the clay and a cross member in the cradle cracked.

In any case, it's not that big a fix structurally as SailorChic34 outlined plus rebonding tabbing on the interior if needed. The major cost will be a repaint of the hull if it's Awl Grip. 'Fortunately' you put the scratch in the topside so you will be correcting two things with the repaint.

[BlueMoonF82]

Thank you everybody. I'm not at boat today but will try to inspect inside, as you suggested. Take some pics if I see anything and send them along. Your thoughts are all very much appreciated. Stay tuned.