268 Islander Hull Question

[Plankton]

I purchased a 1995 268 Islander about a two years ago. We fish it off the NC coast primarily. My brother and I fish the boat and we don't mind fishing in 4-6's since we rarely get to fish but every month or two. Towards the end of the summer we went out and the rub rail around the bow of the boat fell off while heading offshore, turns out two screw's had backed out under the rub rail and caused it to fall out. I screwed those two screws in and got the rub rail back in securely while offshore. Last month we went fishing on a long run and about 20-40 screws backed out around the whole front of the boat. Does anyone know exactly why this is happening? From my understanding the top part of the hull is held together to the bottom part by these screws and its fiberglassed in the bottom of the boat. Growing up in the town where Grady Whites are made I always heard they were invincible, so its hard for me to believe that the hulls are just separating that easily.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[cgmiller]

Plankton,

That does not sound good. The hull is "working" in those conditions and the screws are vibrating out and I cant see them doing that unless the hull cap and hull are "moving" I would suggest resetting the screws with 5200 to keep them from coming out. Plus when they screw fiberglass to fiberglass the screw hole gets bigger and the screw gets looser...I have a 36 year old Mako and none of the hull cap screws have ever come loose and she gets a beating at times...most of the screws on the inside of the boat have come loose over the years, but none on the hull....

 

[LUNDINROOF]

My first Grady was a 204 and after about three years I started having this problem. It started showing up from the bow to about 6 ft from the bow on the starboard side. For a couple of years the problem was limited to a few screws every now and then, which I repaired by backing them out and putting oversize screws in their place.

It continued and started to get worst so one winter I pulled all the rub rail off the boat, used a sealant and over sized screws around the entire boat. Until I learned "the trick" it was a PITA to get the plastic tube back in place in the rub rail but eventually I got everything back together.

I think I had the boat another 4 or 5 years before I sold it and never had the problem again.

I think this is fixable, but it will take replacing all the screws.