Are these cracks a problem? I’m looking at at 2001 Rib for sale. It’s never been anti fouled but has these cracks in the gel coat that run longitudin
- Thread starter Homer J
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Homer J
Active member
OP here. Couldn’t find a way to add more text in 1st post. The cracks appear light but on both sides. It’s been kept on the trailer most of its life so could that explain it? The current owner says it’s just expansion cracks.
Is it a walk away from the deal crack? Sorry the photos again great but they are in between the chimes.
Is it a walk away from the deal crack? Sorry the photos again great but they are in between the chimes.
jakew009
Active member
If it had been antifouled previously you wouldn't even know they existed...
Use it as a negotiating stick to beat the seller up. If it's going to live on a trailer I wouldn't even worry about it.
You could sand and two pack the hull if it bothered you. Or just stick a coat of antifoul on it before you come to sell it. Which is what the seller should have done.
Use it as a negotiating stick to beat the seller up. If it's going to live on a trailer I wouldn't even worry about it.
You could sand and two pack the hull if it bothered you. Or just stick a coat of antifoul on it before you come to sell it. Which is what the seller should have done.
Portofino
Well-known member
Find one without cracks .
Homer J
Active member
It will live on a mooring so I would epoxy and antifoul but I wondered if they are more sinister than aesthetic
lusitano
Active member
They are stress cracks, probably caused by high speed slamming. As said already,better to find one without cracks.
jfm
Well-known member
100% agree with lusitano. They are not “expansion cracks”, they are stress cracks probably from hard driving/ slamming, or inferior construction. If the boat isn’t discounted or otherwise very attractive, find another.
Greg2
Well-known member
Worth saying that stress cracks are often a feature of GRP being slightly flexible and gel coat not being flexible. As long as they aren’t replicated in the GRP then they aren’t a structural problem but they are there and re-sale might be an issue.
Homer J
Active member
Agree. But this is otherwise in very good condition, much better than most 20yr old RIBs. And anything else has many more problems so if this is aesthetic only I’d still buy it.
Greg2
Well-known member
See my post #8
Quite possible that it could just be the gel that is cracked.
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jfm
Well-known member
That's why I said "If the boat isn’t ... otherwise very attractive, "
The cracks are likely just in the gelcoat layer as others have said, but they may not be. The GRP system uses gelcoat that cracks before the underlying composite fibreglass, so when the thing is stressed the gelcoat first cracks while the underlying material is ok. Serves as a warning. Of course it is possible the underlying GRP is cracked too, but it's impossible to tell from your pictures other than to observe that you have A LOT of cracks going on and it looks a bit worrying to me. If you're sure they are gelcoat cracks only (no one here can know) and the boat is otherwise great then of course buy it.
dombuckley
Well-known member
'Expansion cracks', my furry butt. That's a LOT of stress cracks, a long way from any obvious point of loading (i.e. trailer supports): that means slamming damage, which means the entire panel has been flexing. If you take another look at her, I would strongly suggest investigating under the attachment of the buoyancy tube, both on the exterior of the hull and inside, because that's where the real loading goes.
Homer J
Active member
Homer J
Active member
Thanks for your response. The reply is that everything else seems rock solid. The floor underfoot is extremely firm but I can see into the hull. What could I look for or tap for?
Boathook
Well-known member
That is a lot of stress cracks. If on both sides does make me wonder about the build quality and design.
Never heard of expansion cracks either.
Never heard of expansion cracks either.
Homer J
Active member
How can I tell if they are only gel coat cracks? What would a surveyor look at or do?
Greg2
Well-known member
We pulled out of the purchase of a well known make of sports cruiser, partly due to stress cracks (and other issues) in a location you wouldn’t expect them. In that case myself and the surveyor were fairly satisfied that it was just the gel because we crawled around to access spaces where we could see the inside of the hull where the stress cracks were and saw that there were no corresponding cracks in the GRP.
Might be worth asking on a RIB forum such as RIBnet. A quick Google revealed a discussion where someone had a surveyor who used a thermal imaging camera that showed quite a lot. That is a new one on me but finding a surveyor who is familiar with RIBs might be a good start and someone on there may be able to point you in the right direction.
Having said it may well just be the gel I do agree with others - that is a lot of cracks and it may be indicative that the GRP lay-up isn’t quite sufficient to stop it flexing. If it were me I might well be looking elsewhere and at the very least I would want an expert opinion on the issue.
A helpful bit of background reading on the subject here
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jakew009
Active member
If the OP doesn’t buy the boat surely the owner will antifoul it to cover the gelcoat cracks and the next buyer will be none the wiser…
John100156
Well-known member
Unless he gets it properly surveyed during which a good surveyor would scrape off numerous patches of AF which with this boat will almost certainly reveal these stress cracks.
I tend to agree with the 'back-out or hard barter' argument. I bought an F43 which revealed some minor stress cracks on survey, so I had all AF stripped off prior to buying, which the owner agreed to (which was generous and instilled confidence) fortunately they were only minor in one place, confined to the gelcoat, which was easily mended. So I would not normally be too concerned, however, these do look numerous and significant and appear to have tracked a long way, which makes me question how well the boat was treated/maintained.
I tend to agree with the 'back-out or hard barter' argument. I bought an F43 which revealed some minor stress cracks on survey, so I had all AF stripped off prior to buying, which the owner agreed to (which was generous and instilled confidence) fortunately they were only minor in one place, confined to the gelcoat, which was easily mended. So I would not normally be too concerned, however, these do look numerous and significant and appear to have tracked a long way, which makes me question how well the boat was treated/maintained.
stelican
Well-known member
The cracks will probably show through the anti fouling.
I have seen this in the past on sports boats.