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Hairline Fracture on the Gelcoat


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Hello everyone,

My warranty just ran out this Friday, and when I pulled my boat out of the water on Saturday and cleaned it, I've noticed several hairline gelcoat fractures.

I've searched through the forum for a good solution to repair this, but there seems to be various opinions on cracks, but not for the hairline fractures like this.

Has anyone ever had such a problem? The dealer quoted me $400 per crack, and since I have 4 of them, it's going to run me $1,600.

The funny thing is that the cracks are all by the screws that are mounting the windshields...

Anyways, I hope that it's simpler than having to remove the windshields, sanding it down and having to redo the whole gelcoat...

hairline_crack.jpg

Edited by TipoFloe
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FYI, gel warranty is only 2 years I believe.

Yeah... I found that out the hard way. I full 3 year warranty just ended last Friday...

How can I fix this problem though?

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Yeah... I found that out the hard way. I full 3 year warranty just ended last Friday...

How can I fix this problem though?

Are you looking to fix it yourself? Have you considered getting another quote?

My guess is the quote was so high because the windshield will have to come off to spray gel, wetsand, buff, and polish. I have no clue how long a windshield would take to remove, but I'd be willing to bet it's a little time consuming. Spectrum Color used to make all of Malibu's Gels and I'm pretty sure they still do, most dealers buy the gel from them (they don't mix gels unless it's an older boat that's faded). In the past you could purchase supplies through Spectrums website, looks like you need to call now. Definitely don't go for a cheap paste kit, you want to spray the gel. You can use a preval sprayer (purchased at any Sherwin Williams) to spray and if you can buy from Spectrum they should be able to supply you with the percentages you want to use for thinner and hardner. You will need an electric polisher and must be able to wetsand, buff and polish. Spraying isn't the hard part, sanding it to make it blend is. There are videos on youtube and how to writeups on the internet explaining the process, just use a search engine. Another thing to beware of if you are going to try to tackle this yourself is you will need to sand down to the base of the crack to make sure it doesn't come back, and even then with stress from the windshield there is a slight chance it can come back.

Edited by sp0tts
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Are you looking to fix it yourself? Have you considered getting another quote?

My guess is the quote was so high because the windshield will have to come off to spray gel, wetsand, buff, and polish. I have no clue how long a windshield would take to remove, but I'd be willing to bet it's a little time consuming. Spectrum Color used to make all of Malibu's Gels and I'm pretty sure they still do, most dealers buy the gel from them (they don't mix gels unless it's an older boat that's faded). In the past you could purchase supplies through Spectrums website, looks like you need to call now. Definitely don't go for a cheap paste kit, you want to spray the gel. You can use a preval sprayer (purchased at any Sherwin Williams) to spray and if you can buy from Spectrum they should be able to supply you with the percentages you want to use for thinner and hardner. You will need an electric polisher and must be able to wetsand, buff and polish. Spraying isn't the hard part, sanding it to make it blend is. There are videos on youtube and how to writeups on the internet explaining the process, just use a search engine. Another thing to beware of if you are going to try to tackle this yourself is you will need to sand down to the base of the crack to make sure it doesn't come back, and even then with stress from the windshield there is a slight chance it can come back.

Hello Sp0tts,

Thank you for the tip. I might as well go ahead and get more quotes from other places. I'm nearby a lake here and there are several marine shops that may be able to give me a different (hopefully cheaper) quotes. I'm just worried that the color may come out wrong, or something to that sort...

I'll keep researching as others tell me that the crack will come back over and over again, unless I fix it like you describe it...

Anyways, I'm just worried that it may spread through out the boat (like the car's windshield crack)... I was hoping for a simple fix, but apparently there won't be an easy fix for this.

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Hello Sp0tts,

Thank you for the tip. I might as well go ahead and get more quotes from other places. I'm nearby a lake here and there are several marine shops that may be able to give me a different (hopefully cheaper) quotes. I'm just worried that the color may come out wrong, or something to that sort...

I'll keep researching as others tell me that the crack will come back over and over again, unless I fix it like you describe it...

Anyways, I'm just worried that it may spread through out the boat (like the car's windshield crack)... I was hoping for a simple fix, but apparently there won't be an easy fix for this.

I wouldn't worry at all about the color coming out wrong if you have someone good fix it. If you take it to a Malibu dealer or someone who can get the gel from Spectrum it should match perfectly. Older boats that have sat in the sun for 10+ years and faded are the ones that are hard to match and whites on older boats are usually the toughest. It does look like a stress crack most likely caused from pressure from the windshield. Chances are it's been there for a little longer than you think and you just haven't noticed it. And as far as it spreading like broken glass, anything is possible but I think it's unlikely it spreads much more in your situation. And if you get it fixed, there is a chance pressure from the windshield could cause the stress cracks to resurface.

If it were me, I'd try to see if Malibu will do good and warranty it since you are so close to your warranty period. If they won't and you really want it fixed it might be cheaper to get fixed in the winter when things slow down at your dealer or you could even try to negotiate a little on the price I would think (a couple other quotes could help here). The biggest concern I would have in spending the money to have it fixed would be having the issue resurface. I'd try to get some sort of assurance the issue won't resurface if you do shell out the cash. Your other option would be to wait to see if it spreads at all, there's a good chance it won't. I know it's a bummer to have an imperfection on your boat, but a lot of them have slight imperfections when they come out of the mold at the factory, those just happen to get fixed right away.

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