Top of cabin has cracks.

[Marty D]

what should I do? Top of cabin has cracks.

 

[mheltunen]

what should I do? Top of cabin has cracks.

I guess to clarify, is the ceiling of the pilothouse cracked or is the roof cracked? Is it possible some of the roof penetrations are leaking and possibly froze over the winter cracking it? Pictures would help


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[Marty D]

what should I do? Top of cabin has cracks.

I guess to clarify, is the ceiling of the pilothouse cracked or is the roof cracked? Is it possible some of the roof penetrations are leaking and possibly froze over the winter cracking it? Pictures would help


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It’s the top outside of pilot house. They are spider cracks. Yes, it happened over the winter. I don’t cover the boat. I will now. What can I put on it so no water gets in ?

 

[shawnee83]

Can you post a pic of these cracks? Are they around the grab rails, antenna mount or any other mounted stuff. I agree that it may be from water penitration. The answer to you question depends on the details. However, depending on what the situation is, for example grab rails....remove and rebed with some 4200 sealant and done.

 

[mheltunen]

Can you post a pic of these cracks? Are they around the grab rails, antenna mount or any other mounted stuff. I agree that it may be from water penitration. The answer to you question depends on the details. However, depending on what the situation is, for example grab rails....remove and rebed with some 4200 sealant and done.

Agreed! Any roof penetrations you have need to be inspected and bedded properly. Once water finds its way in its there to stay. The core of the the roof is balsam and it absorbs water well. Best case scenario is the water intrusion is isolated to some small areas. I opened up and replaced my roof this winter. Here is an example of what I found :

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[Marty D]

It just started to crack. They are small. I had to zoom in camera. What should I put on it ? There is only that one spot. There are no cracks anywhere else. I’m painting the deck today I’m using interdeck floor paint. It’s a oil paint. I’m going to just hit that spot.

 

[mheltunen]

My cracks looked like this and when I would push on the area or tap with a dead blow hammer it sounded hollow. Your at a crossroads. You need to decide what your long term plan is for this vessel. To repair the cracks the gelcoat will need to be sanded in those areas and then re applied. Problem with just doing that is it does not solve your root problem. Currently you have water saturated in parts of your roof. To fix it correctly the roof should be sounded (tapped) with a hammer or moisture tests conducted to determine where the water is. The bad areas should be marked out then cut open to expose the saturated core. If rot and deterioration is not present the core can be dried out then glassed over. If bad coring is found, then it needs to be removed and replaced with new core material. Like mentioned earlier in your post, the penetrations need to be inspected. Personally I’d recommend removing all penetrations and re bedding them to prevent future water infiltration. All my penetrations thru my roof are drilled thru a epoxy plug. Basicly I overdrilled all my holes and filled the new larger hole completely with epoxy. I then filled a hole thru the epoxy to the correct size. This way even if the hole does leak it will not compromise the core material. I used epoxy for my repairs but truthfully I’d recommend a poly resin to avoid gelcoat incompatibility issues. Perhaps some of the veterans will have some good ideas as well. Good luck


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[Brent]

My cracks looked like this and when I would push on the area or tap with a dead blow hammer it sounded hollow. Your at a crossroads. You need to decide what your long term plan is for this vessel. To repair the cracks the gelcoat will need to be sanded in those areas and then re applied. Problem with just doing that is it does not solve your root problem. Currently you have water saturated in parts of your roof. To fix it correctly the roof should be sounded (tapped) with a hammer or moisture tests conducted to determine where the water is. The bad areas should be marked out then cut open to expose the saturated core. If rot and deterioration is not present the core can be dried out then glassed over. If bad coring is found, then it needs to be removed and replaced with new core material. Like mentioned earlier in your post, the penetrations need to be inspected. Personally I’d recommend removing all penetrations and re bedding them to prevent future water infiltration. All my penetrations thru my roof are drilled thru a epoxy plug. Basicly I overdrilled all my holes and filled the new larger hole completely with epoxy. I then filled a hole thru the epoxy to the correct size. This way even if the hole does leak it will not compromise the core material. I used epoxy for my repairs but truthfully I’d recommend a poly resin to avoid gelcoat incompatibility issues. Perhaps some of the veterans will have some good ideas as well. Good luck


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can you stick your finger nail in the cracks? If not, I don’t think the gel coat is cracked to wood just as rule of thumb. If not completely cracked, the ignore until repairs or mix up some thin epoxy and use a small paint brush. The depth of crack is important.

 

[Marty D]

Thanks Brent. You always know. I’m just hit it with interlux deck paint. The cracks are so small. This winter I’m putting a cover over the cabin. I just finished painting the hull. Painted the deck. Wax the hole boat.

 

[Brent]

Mark should know the thickness of Gelcoat. I am thinking it is 10 to 15 mm or millimeters. . We have a good example of light cracking to extreme in Mark"s and other examples. Glad you caught it early and hopefully not wer.

B2

 

[mheltunen]

I don’t remember how thick the gelcoat is supposed to be. I was not able to stick a finger nail into my cracks either. The cracks are caused from water in the core freezing then expanding pushing the fiberglass away from the wood core thus delaminating. The areas where my cracks were present on the roof the fiberglass had completely separated from the balsam core. Some have had some success drilling holes in the affected area and injecting epoxy (un thickened) with a syringe into the core then laying something heavy on top while it sets. It’s not a permanent solution but may buy you some time.


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[Marty D]

Mark should know the thickness of Gelcoat. I am thinking it is 10 to 15 mm or millimeters. . We have a good example of light cracking to extreme in Mark"s and other examples. Glad you caught it early and hopefully not wer.

B2

The deck paint cover the spider crack one coat. I gave it 2 coats. I didn’t find any more and the top is solid. You see spider cracks like that on other boats. You see it on the deck. If a sinker hits the floor. In 15 years I had many sinkers hit the deck and not one spider crack. I bet it’s from not covering the cabin in winter

 

[mheltunen]

I’m glad to hear it is solid. Mine definitely was not. Initially I only intended to repair some small areas. After I tapped around with a hammer I soon realized the damage was much larger than I anticipated. In regards to covering for winter storage. I’ve been told to never tarp directly on top of a boat. Instead a frame of sorts to hold the cover off of the roof is best. This allows some air flow and prevents direct contact with water (or allows it to dry).


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[Brent]

Buy a moisture meter

 

[Brent]

Ex. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Pinle ... /202048566



Try it in area that you know dry then move to other areas

 

[mheltunen]

Can you post a pic of these cracks? Are they around the grab rails, antenna mount or any other mounted stuff. I agree that it may be from water penitration. The answer to you question depends on the details. However, depending on what the situation is, for example grab rails....remove and rebed with some 4200 sealant and done.

X2 on the grab rails. It’s an easy place to check and re bed. When I took off my grab rails water poured out of the first bolt I removed.


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[Marty D]

Can you post a pic of these cracks? Are they around the grab rails, antenna mount or any other mounted stuff. I agree that it may be from water penitration. The answer to you question depends on the details. However, depending on what the situation is, for example grab rails....remove and rebed with some 4200 sealant and done.

X2 on the grab rails. It’s an easy place to check and re bed. When I took off my grab rails water poured out of the first bolt I removed.


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When I installed my radar 10 years ago I used 3M 4400. I redid all the hand rail bolts, spot lights. The VHF cables. The 3m 4400 I like it better because it’s above & below water and curing time is longer and that’s a good thing.