Opinion on crack in my hull

[Rangerbill]

Hello, i am restoring a 1982 Universal Montego 19. I have some small cracks just forward of the centerboard\ keel. I am new at this, are these serious, and is it something i can do myself.

[SailFastTri]

Looks like gelcoat cracks from flexing. It might be cosmetic, but being underwater it could let water in to permeate the layup. I would grind it out until you find translucent fiberglass (if it's opaque white it is damaged). Most fiberglass is either clear/milky or greenish or pink all is OK so long as it's also somewhat translucent. Then build it up with epoxy and cloth roving (woven, not matted). Check out the West System web site for repair recommendations and instructions.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Bill.

[Rangerbill]

Thanks for the reply, I have never worked with fiberglass before. The boat yard where I bought it said they would fix it if I bought it. But after waiting a month I gave up. One now wants $150 and another $550 to fix it. If the $150 guy doesn't work out, I will try to do it myself, I could get another boat similar to this one for not much more than the $550. Again Thank you. I will have other questions I am sure.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day RAngerB,

First, welcome to CF, generally a good place to get info, opinions, sometimes funny jokes, and little harassment!

Now, as to that crack... one more picture might help, one taken from a bit further back so we can get an idea of w here it is in the boat and then make some guesses as to what likely has caused it, and whether it is serious or not. Also something to give scale to the pic would help.

My first thought is that it isn't very serious. Some shallow grinding and then a small FRP patch may be all that is required. This would actually be a good small repair project to get you started in FRP work... and if you intend to muck about with boats, you will eventually need to address these skills, or go broke paying others to do what isn't very difficult (on this small scale).

Oh... while you are about it, how about a pic of the whole boat? I'm not familiar with that model!

Jim

[Rangerbill]

Alright thank you for looking into this for me. Below are the pics you requested.

[Rangerbill]

BTW she's 19.5 feet and this is just forward of the center board keel which swings down forward. I suspect the center board has banged into it at some point.

[Suijin]

It's not a big deal and you should repair it yourself. As Jim mentioned, it would be a good introduction to a fairly straightforward repair.

It was probably caused over time more by the tight radius of that curve and just general flexing than anything else. I would not worry about the cause, because it's not large and your repair will probably be good for another 30 years.

Essentially, it's a crack in the gelcoat that almost certainly goes down into the fiberglass laminate underneath. Grind it down, past the gelcoat, and into the glasswork until you get to "good glass"; no apparent crack, and the resin should be translucent and not whitish and opaque. Patch with resin and chopped strand mat, sand it a bit more than fair, then if it were me I would go straight to the thickened epoxy on top and fair that to the hull.

Or, you could just grind it out and fill and fair with thickened epoxy. I'm 100% sure that's what your $150 dollar guy is planning.

On a 19' boat, unless you're dedicated to restoring the boat and making it as new, there's not much point in going overboard on this. You want to keep water from penetrating into the fiberglass and causing delamination, period. The second route above will do that. You could do it in a couple of hours. It might take a bit longer if the grind is deep and you need to apply successive layers of epoxy to build it up, but the extra time is mostly just waiting for the layers of epoxy to kick.

If you plan to keep the boat for any length of time, and in the water, it would be worth barrier coating it below the waterline after the repair. That's the best way to seal the bottom against future/further water penetration. It does not look like there's much if any bottom paint left, whether it wore off or someone scraped it. I would sand off what's left, barrier coat, then apply anti-fouling. One gallon of barrier coat should probably get you three to four coats on that hull, which would be adequate. It's expensive stuff, but it's far less expensive than future repairs.

[MarkSF]

The gelcoat is cracking because that area is subject to a lot of stress from the centreboard, which is causing flexing. The gelcoat is less flexible than fibreglass, and cracks first.

As well as repairing the cracks, I would build up that area a little inside the hull, with a few layers of extra glass and epoxy, in order to stiffen it.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by Suijin

If you plan to keep the boat for any length of time, and in the water, it would be worth barrier coating it below the waterline after the repair. That's the best way to seal the bottom against future/further water penetration. It does not look like there's much if any bottom paint left, whether it wore off or someone scraped it. I would sand off what's left, barrier coat, then apply anti-fouling. One gallon of barrier coat should probably get you three to four coats on that hull, which would be adequate. It's expensive stuff, but it's far less expensive than future repairs.

I'm assuming that this boat is a trailerable daysailer. If that is the case, a barrier coat is probably a waste of money.

Perhaps the OP could clarify the intended use of the boat?

[Cheechako]

The location indicates it a stress crack from grounding. Personally I would lightly grind to remove the gel coat and see if it prevails into the glass structure. If it doesn't smooth it up, bottom paint and go. If it does go deeper, Grind deeper, fair the grinding out and add layers of glass/resin before smoothing and painting.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

I'm assuming that this boat is a trailerable daysailer. If that is the case, a barrier coat is probably a waste of money.

Perhaps the OP could clarify the intended use of the boat?

I thought of that, which is why I said if he plans to keep it in the water.

In truth, if it's going to be on the trailer when not being used, then definitely just go the epoxy route would be fine.

The one benefit of doing barrier coat now is that the bottom looks pretty devoid of antifouling paint. If you paint it and then decide you want to keep it in the water, you've got a lot more work in front of you.

[Rangerbill]

It will be on the trailer most all the time. That being the case, I am planning on sanding and a cheap rustoleum antifouling paint. It may be in the water a week at the most. Thank you all for the encouragement to do it myself. Great forum here I hope to remain and as I gain knowledge to help others in my position. Have a great weekend.

[Cheechako]

Wouldn't worry much about anti fouling if it's on the trailer a lot. A barriercoat and crack investigation... yes.

[Rangerbill]

I let the $150 guy do his work. I am glad I did, seeing what he did, I learned from here are the pictures. What do ya all think. It looks good to me, but will the epoxy bond to the slick ground out part?