Cracked Hull - 28 Release

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hornedfrog

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I had my mechanic pull my 28 release to paint the bottom and he found a crack from the bow flare from the port side to the starboard side just above the waterline under the entire hull. The crack is starting to turn out a rust color. Has anyone experienced this type of problem with their hull at the bow? The boat is not that old and Grady said they only have a 5 year warranty on the hull and my hull is 8 years old.

Suggestions?
 
Simple answer to your Q is No. I have an 05 283 and have never seen anything like this. Have there ever been any special circumstances like impact, excessive overhang while supporting, etc?

Just because the manufacturer says the warranty is expired, it isn't always the last word. In my past life, I owned a Formula that had a major hull failure due to lack of internal structural support. Initially, I got the same news from Formula (tough luck, go pound sand). I documented the damage and sent videos to every executive in the company. I also told Formula I intended to go public using the internet unless they took action. Reluctantly, they took my boat back to the factory and rebuilt the hull. I think they turned it into an ice breaker and I sold it soon after. A clear case of keeping the pressure on. Hopefully, your boat is the exception and other 283 owners won't find out we all have hulls with design flaws. Good luck.

John Beach
Blackbird
 
I wanted see some pictures of this. This sounds really bad. I hope you can fix it.
 
See if you can find if the hull is balsa cored. The bigger GWs are cored, not sure about the 28'ers.
Post some pics as folks have stated. Doesn't sound good. I agree that if there is a defect, GW will likely stand behind it. If it was a result of some sort of damage - probably on your dime. Are you the only owner of the boat?
 
hornedfrog said:
I had my mechanic pull my 28 release to paint the bottom and he found a crack from the bow flare from the port side to the starboard side just above the waterline under the entire hull. The crack is starting to turn out a rust color. Has anyone experienced this type of problem with their hull at the bow? The boat is not that old and Grady said they only have a 5 year warranty on the hull and my hull is 8 years old.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...
The part about the 'rust' color stumps me. The crack is bad enough but what is rusting? If the damage was caused by contact with something metal on the outside, I could understand the stain but if the crack is from the inside out, I wouldn't expect rust.So, is this damage from contact or a structural failure. The lesser of two evils would be contact damage. That said, it is hard to imagine contact that would make a mark along the entire hull. Is the crack really along the whole hull and on both sides? Does it run across the transom? Is it possible that it is an etched crack caused by something caustic in the water? If so it would run the entire water line around the hull . As mentioned, a picture would help
 
seasick said:
hornedfrog said:
I had my mechanic pull my 28 release to paint the bottom and he found a crack from the bow flare from the port side to the starboard side just above the waterline under the entire hull. The crack is starting to turn out a rust color. Has anyone experienced this type of problem with their hull at the bow? The boat is not that old and Grady said they only have a 5 year warranty on the hull and my hull is 8 years old.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...
The part about the 'rust' color stumps me. The crack is bad enough but what is rusting? If the damage was caused by contact with something metal on the outside, I could understand the stain but if the crack is from the inside out, I wouldn't expect rust.So, is this damage from contact or a structural failure. The lesser of two evils would be contact damage. That said, it is hard to imagine contact that would make a mark along the entire hull. Is the crack really along the whole hull and on both sides? Does it run across the transom? Is it possible that it is an etched crack caused by something caustic in the water? If so it would run the entire water line around the hull . As mentioned, a picture would help
Click to expand...


I think seasick's reply is spot on. Rust from the inside is not possible, I don't believe. If I owned the boat, I would call GW's Vice President of Engineering, David Neese @ 252.752.2111, and ask him how to evaluate the problem. GW's area sales rep may be able to gather enough data for engineering to guess at a causation, assuming you cannot determine if the crack is actually a gel coat problem caused by something alongside as seasick suggested.
 
When coring materials get wet, tannins can leach out. They are brownish red, so sometimes it can look like rust stains. I wonder if that's what you're seeing?
 
It could be the balsa coring, it will look like rust but is a brown color, thus the question of the hull is cored. If so, you have issues.
 
Fishtales said:
It could be the balsa coring, it will look like rust but is a brown color, thus the question of the hull is cored. If so, you have issues.
Click to expand...

I have been to the factory several times and have seen the actual building process from start to finish.

A mold is sprayed with gel coat and then fiberglass cloth is laid up and then coated with resin and smoothed out with rollers. After adequate amounts of all these materials, the hull is left to cure for about a week I think.

In other parts of the mfg prosess, some of the hull's liners, like the helms and decks, are being built with balsa core that is pieced together like a jig-saw puzzle for strength and added flexibility, and then gets the remaining fiberglass covering from both chopped glass and cloth. Same thing with the stringers inside the hull after the hull is first complete.

There is no wood core in the hull, that I remember.
 
I was having some fiberglass work done on my 208 last summer (defects) and the guy found what looked like vertical spider cracks on the lower, forward part of the hull. He said it was right over a stiffener and wasn't uncommon. Contacted the dealer and they got Grady to cover the repairs. My boat is an 04 and I've had lots of gelcoat issues but GW has fixed them all at no cost to me.
 
I was thinking the same thing! No reply from 1st post hmmmmmmm fishy!
 
mebcpa said:
Fishtales said:
It could be the balsa coring, it will look like rust but is a brown color, thus the question of the hull is cored. If so, you have issues.
Click to expand...

I have been to the factory several times and have seen the actual building process from start to finish.

A mold is sprayed with gel coat and then fiberglass cloth is laid up and then coated with resin and smoothed out with rollers. After adequate amounts of all these materials, the hull is left to cure for about a week I think.

In other parts of the mfg prosess, some of the hull's liners, like the helms and decks, are being built with balsa core that is pieced together like a jig-saw puzzle for strength and added flexibility, and then gets the remaining fiberglass covering from both chopped glass and cloth. Same thing with the stringers inside the hull after the hull is first complete.

There is no wood core in the hull, that I remember.
Click to expand...

I've been there several times and GW does core some hulls.

From Grady's website:
"Balsa Cores for Wide Beams
To get the added stiffness we demand on our wide beam models, hull sides have balsa cored sides. This balsa coring between the glass laminates gives added strength, much like the spreaders between bridge I-beams."

So the questions to ask GW assuming this is a legit post are:
Is the 283 considered a wide beam model?
Does the 283 have balsa coring.....
 
I agree with Fishtales... I'm 100% positive Grady cores the 330 with balsa. Not sure about other models like the 360. I just talked with Grady on this last week. But that conversation was about the 2003-2004's. I doubt they changed that practice because their listed weight on the 33 is still the same.
 
So far, all we have decided between us is that we don't know what his problem is, if any at all, and that GW s/b contacted if a problem exists outside of mainstream repairs and maintenance. So, hornedfrog, if you're still listening, maybe we have all guessed in a helpful way. Over & out.
 
Attached are the pictures you requested. Now Grady is saying that is is more than a stringert problem and that I need to pay half the cost to repair eventhough it is definitely an obvious problem with the construction of the boat.
 

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Wow! Hornedfrog. Those pix are strong. I know the folks at GW very well and I know they are fair and honest and very much want to hear from their customers whether you are the original owner or not. I am sure you will be able to negotiate a fair deal with whatever the problem is.

Good luck!
 
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