Play'N Hooky

I have noticed over time that the gel coat around some of the deck hardware has developed small hairline fractures radiating out from the bolt holes and atother places where it is obvious that the hull has been stressed by contact with dock pilings and such. None of them are that bad, but are noticeable, especially when the boat has not been washed in awhile. I was wondering what, if any, is the best way to repairthese little fractures?

X-Shark

This is due to not using a countersink on the holes after they were drilled. It's another step, so the lazy people that put your boat together didn't do it.



After the hole is drilled you run a counter sink like this to cut the gellcoat back some.







I actually drill a pilot hole, then countersink it, then drill the correct size hole. then countersink that. This stops ALL gellcoat chipping.



The other way it can happen is fastners overtightened or over stressed, but it usually has not been countersunk.



The fix is expensive and time consuming. Leave them alone and consider them battle scars.



That is until you are ready to spring some big bucks and redo the whole boat.

Play'N Hooky

My main concern was moisture getting into the cracks. Like you said the cosmetic aspect just goes with the territory. If it's pretty and un-blemished it ain't being used. I thought there might be something apart from waxingthat could be applied that would seal them up. The deck underneath is solid fiberglass so I guess it's not really that big of an issue.

X-Shark

Unless you have core material exposed,don't worry about it.