Can you just apply new gel to stress cracks or do you have to make the crack a little bigger for the gel to stay? The neighbor and I were talking about it and he said maybe try a dremmel tool or something and kind of make a valley so to speak.
Can you just apply new gel to stress cracks or do you have to make the crack a little bigger for the gel to stay? The neighbor and I were talking about it and he said maybe try a dremmel tool or something and kind of make a valley so to speak.
Most stress cracks on bass boats will appear in the same type areas where the fiberglass makes a sharp radius or turn .
That's why you generally see stress cracks around the splash well radius area, where the consoles meet the side of the hull , and in the cockpit where the floor meets the hull on some boats.
Those type of cracks are generally caused by one of 3 things, not enough bracing in the direct radius area of the cracks, not enough glass lamination or too thick of a gelcoat layer.
Gelcoat on the boat is not structural and is the weakest link on the laminate. The glass laminate itself will flex and the gelcoat if applied right will flex a little also
The thicker the gel, the less it will flex, if it is too thick, which happens more often on the radius areas then it will crack .
Gelcoats used today are much less elastic than gelcoats from 10 years ago due to tougher environmental compliance issues with the VOC's.
If the cracks were down on the keel or near the strakes or transom, it could be a possible broken or weak stringer/knee brace.
Sanding and filling with gel can repair them, but if the original cracks were from bracing or laminate problems they will often return again.
You'll need to bevel out the crack to a V shape and get down to the resin/glass layer to fill it with gelcoat.
A dremel tool works well for doing this.
Thanks basscat7 your help is greatly appreciated. I also want to thank you for the oxidation removal tips or the wetsanding part. It made my boat beautiful. Thanks again.
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