Today we noticed a new crack in the bow area that I had previously repaired. When we bought the boat the surveyor thought it was just some gelcoat flaking, nothing to worry about. Once I got more familiar with the boat I started piecing together that it had been in some kind of an accident. There were keel ding repairs, hull repairs, a new stern railing, and the hull had been painted which hid all the sins. I decided to sand out the flaking gelcoat and lay in some new fiberglass.
Here is what I found under the gelcoat:
The crack was all the way through the fiberglass and was longer than expected. The plywood appeared sound and dry, so I sanded down to bare fiberglass and glassed over both sides and painted it. I assumed that it had cracked because of an impact and that I wouldn't need to worry about it again.
I was wrong!
Here is what it looks like today. The cracks are new, they were not there a couple weeks ago, and I don't recall even seeing them yesterday when we came down to the boat. Yesterday was our first sail of the year and we had pretty gusty conditions. It looks like the headstay and chainplate are trying to compress the stemhead and causing these cracks, so we took a few turns off the headstay so they don't migrate further. I am pretty sure these cracks are just about where the edge of the fiberglass patch is. There was a bit of discolored water coming from the port crack (I'm pretty sure it was from washing the boat though, its been dry here for weeks).
So what could be causing this? Moisture making its way through the stemhead fitting and rotting out the the plywood? A PO's years of excessive headstay tension coming to haunt me? A past collision caused hidden damage? All of the above? I had what I consider normal headstay tension.
My instinct is usually to tear into something like this and replace anything rotted or cracked, but this will be a season-ending repair. I will have to drop the mast, remove the stemhead fitting, bow rail etc., cut the entire top of the bow off, replace all the plywood with G10 and then anchor it all together with fiberglass cloth and make it look pretty. Then put the boat back together. That's a lot of work.
I don't know if this is a trip to the yard tomorrow situation, a wait and see situation, or a shut up and go sailing situation. Is the whole bow going to snap off and send the mast into the cockpit? Am I overthinking the seriousness of this (my MO usually)? Or should I sail it until fall and then haul it out and fix it and do the bottom while it's on the hard?
Advice and opinion appreciated!
Thanks,
Doug
Here is what I found under the gelcoat:
The crack was all the way through the fiberglass and was longer than expected. The plywood appeared sound and dry, so I sanded down to bare fiberglass and glassed over both sides and painted it. I assumed that it had cracked because of an impact and that I wouldn't need to worry about it again.
I was wrong!
Here is what it looks like today. The cracks are new, they were not there a couple weeks ago, and I don't recall even seeing them yesterday when we came down to the boat. Yesterday was our first sail of the year and we had pretty gusty conditions. It looks like the headstay and chainplate are trying to compress the stemhead and causing these cracks, so we took a few turns off the headstay so they don't migrate further. I am pretty sure these cracks are just about where the edge of the fiberglass patch is. There was a bit of discolored water coming from the port crack (I'm pretty sure it was from washing the boat though, its been dry here for weeks).
So what could be causing this? Moisture making its way through the stemhead fitting and rotting out the the plywood? A PO's years of excessive headstay tension coming to haunt me? A past collision caused hidden damage? All of the above? I had what I consider normal headstay tension.
My instinct is usually to tear into something like this and replace anything rotted or cracked, but this will be a season-ending repair. I will have to drop the mast, remove the stemhead fitting, bow rail etc., cut the entire top of the bow off, replace all the plywood with G10 and then anchor it all together with fiberglass cloth and make it look pretty. Then put the boat back together. That's a lot of work.
I don't know if this is a trip to the yard tomorrow situation, a wait and see situation, or a shut up and go sailing situation. Is the whole bow going to snap off and send the mast into the cockpit? Am I overthinking the seriousness of this (my MO usually)? Or should I sail it until fall and then haul it out and fix it and do the bottom while it's on the hard?
Advice and opinion appreciated!
Thanks,
Doug