Fiberglass repair-Damage to lifting strakes-HELP

[Kaboom]

Hello,

I bought a 1990 Offshore 24 at the beginning of last season, used it quite a bit last summer, winterized it and it has been in my yard all winter.

I inspected the hull yesterday and found cracks running down the peaked section of the lifting strakes in a few spots. One is about 6 inches long and the other is about 4 inches, both on the same strake. I had the boat surveyed before I bought it, and nothing was reported about this. I think they may have already been there and the bottom paint may have covered them, now they are worse.

I peeled some of the delaminated fiberglass back to take a look underneath. I took pictures and I am hoping that someone can help direct me as to how to repair this. I have some thoughts in mind, but I have never repaired fiberglass before.

Thanks ahead of time for any help!

 

[gradyfish22]

Picks are not loading for me. Did the yard use a forklift to lift the boat out?? Sounds like they lifted directly on the lifting strakes and they cracked from the pressure. If the pictures loaded it would be easier to tell. If the surveyor did not report about them, either he did a bad job(you did say it was delaminated, it should not be if it was truely in good shape, most are good but there are some that don't fully do what they should, or your yard damaged the boat lifting it. In some cases they are liable, not sure what your insurance or there's covers. Even though they were covered in paint, they should have still been checked, that is not an excuse to not check them, that is a surveyor being lazy Regardless, that is not a job for a DIY at all, a professional yard that does fiberglass work or a fiberglass repair shop should perform it. A strake is not super hard, but does involve experience to do, I would leave it to someone who has done it before. You also want the strake to be flush and even after being repaired, or it will make your hull act funny and cause air bubbles which cause the hull to be less efficient, it can cause it to track to one side, and can cause bubble trails to form and get into your propeller path and cause your props to cavitate, ruing your prop and causing your prop to be less efficient.

 

[BobKat]

Lifting strakes

I had an '86 Seafarer that had fractures along the strakes. I thought this was trailer related, but I was wrong. After these fractures began to multiply I had a well known glass repair company in the area look at it and found that it was due to rotting wood stringers! Grady supplied at no cost the replacement stringers but it was still a costly repair job.

 

[oldmil007]

Hi Kaboom,

I sent you a PM.


- Jay