SoCal Jet Boats
Tech Talk => Hulls => Topic started by: Bobbyblank on March 14, 2008, 01:27:23 PM
-
Well, i was going to remove the pump today to add some new gaskets and slicone, ext, when i crawled under the back of the boat just to take a gander at how things are going back there when i notice a 1 foot long hairline crack where the left side stringer that supports the motor is :mad:. I had never seen it there before today and its got me worried. I filled the bilge up with water to see if it would come out, but nothing. There are no visible cracks along the stringer where the motor sits on so i dont know where the crack runs into the boat ??? The boat has been sitting for a month or so with some oily water in it and you can see oil around the crack, so i know its comeing in from some where.
My question is what do i do now? :banghead: :banghead: Just sand down the bottom and add some glass matts and some resin and slap some more around the stringer? Im in the middle of building the motor and rewireing the whole boat so cash is tied up right now. I just dont want to get on the lake and gun it and the whole ass end of the boat explodes or something :-X. Please, any ideas with a tight budget in mind would be great. I just want to do the best job possible without breaking the bank or reglassing the whole boat.
Ill post pictures in about 25 minutes, had to go home to get the camera.
-
how deep are they? could just be flex cracks in the gel....though i have never seen them on the underside of the boat, they are commonly on the gunnels and bow.
how are they stringers? solid? rotted? how long are they stringers?
-
Here are the pics i took. The stringers are in pretty good shape, no flex, rotting, ext. They are not as hairline as i thought, every time i get under in look,they seem to look bigger :mad:. I dont think they can be just gelcoat because there is oil comeing through the cracks... well, maybe these will help..
(https://www.socaljetboats.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi170.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu261%2Fbobbyblank%2F71%2520Tahiti%2FDSC00751.jpg&hash=7072c561e261ee270f347abe6c5e818abb9154a5)
(https://www.socaljetboats.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi170.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu261%2Fbobbyblank%2F71%2520Tahiti%2FDSC00750.jpg&hash=1d9201e25feaa32f4c0da6443f35ce1c04515ed7)
(https://www.socaljetboats.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi170.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu261%2Fbobbyblank%2F71%2520Tahiti%2FDSC00747.jpg&hash=a5bf58e0ec9af81a3e098e179fe8645dde5cf867)
(https://www.socaljetboats.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi170.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu261%2Fbobbyblank%2F71%2520Tahiti%2FDSC00746.jpg&hash=64ec5967f0dcf8d8ade96962dd2df2738add6c69)
-
eh, im not sure....that doesnt look good.
-
I'd be looking for a new hull!!!!
-
At this point, i dont think that is an option. I have a lot of money "locked up" on this hull and i would rather just fix it if at all possible.
-
At this point, i dont think that is an option. I have a lot of money "locked up" on this hull and i would rather just fix it if at all possible.
Hey Bobby,
Check this out. http://smartflix.com/store/video/1165/Fiberglass-Repairs-Made-Easy There are other titles as well. Look here...
http://smartflix.com/store/category/6/Fiberglass
Greg
-
what make is boat ,did drop on trailer or get droped, is this a chip or hole
-
that is a chip, does not go through the hull. Greg, thanks for the links. Juse got word on my 455 olds motor, pretty much toast. Needs a crank, rods, and a whole lot of machine work. Im thinking i might just have to part out this boat and take a loss. Gonna be an easy $3000 plus cost of a crank to get the motor going.
-
Bobby, Check your PMs!!! ;D ;)
-
who is doing your machine work=seems alot
-
Does the name REX mean anything to you?
Hey this makes 3 of us in the area. Maybe it's time we get together this summer!
-
Hell ya greg, as soon as this thing has a motor! And no more cracks lol. :banghead:
-
Well, you get your motor back together and get that crack fixed, if only for the beginning of the season and then go fix it. I'll have everything mechanical and electrical back in like new condition and I'll run it that way for a couple of months and then I'll tear it all down to repair and repaint the hull, new carpet and upholstery.
IF the crack doesn't go clear through then you can get by with grinding it out about an inch or so to each side, making a slight trough then lay in some mat and epoxy and build it back up and sand it smooth. You might get by like that until you decide what you want to do.
-
I have a crack about 13 inches long, but mine is straight, it never did leak or anything, and I dont know how the hell it showed up. Mine looks a little wider than yours, I noticed it before my first river trip last year. Nothing inside the boat at all, the only thing I could GUESS was the boat is HEAVY and the way it was sittin on the bunks and the towing just put too much stress on it, with the bouncing and all. i dont know, but it sure made me paranoid about it tho. What I did tho was to silicone it just to be on the safe side, thinkin that the first trip would just blast it off, to my surprise the silicone has stayed there for 3 trips. Mickey Mouse and all and it held up. Just my 02 mark :-\
-
Bobbyblank
This might not be what you want to hear ::) , but about the cracks. That does not look good. I went back and looked at the other pics of your boat from the motor removal, and I have some questions for you. How far forward from the transom are the cracks ? Are thay around the front of the stringer ? If so you might have a bigger problem than you think, because thats where mine cracked >:(. Heres a link to my fix, http://www.socaljetboats.com/index.php?topic=1284.0 . What I think happened to mine is this. First the floor starts to leak letting water between the floor and the bottom of the hull . The foam under there absorbes the water and holds it there rotting the wood in the floor from the inside out. Also once wet the foam becomes soft (like a sponge), allowing the bottom of the hull to flex (causing stress cracks around the front of the stringers) . In the pics of mine you only see one crack but after I sanded off the paint and old repairs :banghead: it looked just like yours, lots of small spider web cracks (stress cracks). This can happen on the trailer !! Thats why I went back and looked at your other pics. It looks like your trailer only has two bunks (the 2x4/2x6s) and I cant tell from the pics what size thay are. But if you look you will notice that the rear supports for the bunks are under the transome and the center supports are way in front of the stringers, so, once the bottom of the boat is not well supported inside it can flex on the trailer every time you hit a bump in the road. Causing these stress cracks near the front of the stringers .
I hope this isnt where your cracks are because its NOT a fun fix !!!!
-
Bobby give John Miller a call www.johnmillerboats.com or Doug at sherfab www.sherfabfiberglass.com very good at what they do should be helpfull ,call me if the #s don't work I'll dig thru the files Tom
-
my southwind had cracks on both sides just about in same spot - on upper side of each stringer - i reglassed both inside and out- not a fun job - but needed to be done cause i liked the boat -
-
pull a bolt out of the stringer and poke around in the hole if it is soft or compost falls out you got rot.
the glass can be strong and still have rotten wood inside.
the yellow rings around the floor at the base of the stringer could be delamination.
a buddy had a kurtis craft cirlce boat.. he resurected it and and had Ron Boltons dad rig it.
his stringers looked like that and i told him to put new stringers in it. that it would never fly..
he didn't listen ...when he sold it .... the new owner ended up saving the hardware ,v drive/engine.. after the bottom blew out and sunk it.guy actually drove it up on the beach to save it.
lift the boat up by the engine...and you will see what i mean.
jmho...