How do fix this?

[transiberian]

How do fix this? This is on a side of a hull. Is the barrier coat and gel coat is the same thing? If not what barrier coat used for?

[oldjags]

Originally Posted by transiberian

How do fix this? This is on a side of a hull. Is the barrier coat and gel coat is the same thing? If not what barrier coat used for?

That appears to be cracking due to flexing of the hull against a hard interior bulkhead or something similar. Putting some additional stringers on the inside of the hull to keep it from flexing so much would help.

You can also try redoing the area where the bulkhead or cabinet, or whatever is creating the hard spot on the inside, meets the hull to try and spread out the load so it doesn't bear on that one sharp point. There are several ways to do that, but it means removing and reinstalling the bulkhead, and that might make it too much of a hassle depending on where it is.

What you have in the pictures is gelcoat. Barrier coat is applied below the waterline to keep water out of the fiberglass layers. Gellcoat is porous, so moisture will penetrate and encourage blisters to form. The barrier coat is non-porous, so it helps keep it out.

Hope this helps.

[skipmac]

Hello,

First, in the marine industry barrier coat is a generic term usually used to refer to any resin or coating applied to the underwater parts of the hull to prevent absorption of water by the fiberglass and potentially causing blisters.

Gelcoat is a special type of resin that is the first layer applied in the mold when you are building a fiberglass boat. The gelcoat is a barrier to water and also includes the color and is pretty UV stable.

To repair the section in your photo depends. Is this just a superficial, surface crack? It looks in the picture like there could have been some impact there which could mean the glass under the gelcoat is also cracked.

Depending on how serious and how deep you would use different repair procedures.

[minaret]

Definitely an impact fracture, if it was a hard edge as previously mentioned it would be more of a line of cracks and not the spiderweb you see here. I would suggest taking it to a pro, the fact that you don't know the difference between gel and barrier coat leads me to believe this repair is beyond your skill set for now. Only try to do it yourself if that is a skill set you wish to acquire, the learning curve is large.

[Cheechako]

Looks like impact to me too.

[transiberian]

Thanks everyone! I still want to do it myself. I am very resourcefull, I think I just buy a book that explains how to fix this. I looked inside a boat and that crack is located just where a bulkhead is but its a horizontal one (I am not sure if still called bulkhead)

[swagman]

Originally Posted by transiberian

Thanks everyone! I still want to do it myself. I am very resourcefull, I think I just buy a book that explains how to fix this. I looked inside a boat and that crack is located just where a bulkhead is but its a horizontal one (I am not sure if still called bulkhead)

Which maybe makes the early suggestion that it could be a 'hard spot' thats caused the cracks, and perhaps making it worthwhile to not just treat it as am impact fracture, but to also strengthen inside.

Despite what others say working with fibreglass is not brain surgery. I'm sure you can master whats required.

Grinding back the inner surfaces and rebonding the horizontal support to the hull, and spreading the load over a wider area, is not hard.
Nor is using a small dremel type device to cut into the cracks from outside, and infilling with matching gel coat.

Enjoy
JOHN