Crack in arch

J

jmauld

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2020
2,844
Carolina Beach
Boat Info
2010 Sundancer 390
2016 Sea Hunt Ultra 211
Engines
Twin 8.1l of gas guzzling iron
Looking at a sundancer 38 and I found that it has a fairly large crack in the arch.

Have any of you seen this before:
https://imgur.com/a/a9zB5Ur

I don’t have an image from farther back but this is the rear edge of the arch. If you removed the canvas and stood on the swim deck you would be looking at this crack. It’s roughly 50% cracked from one side of the boat to the other.
 
I had a crack about half the size of that when I bought my 33 express I just ground out the cracks filled with marine Tex sanded down and sprayed with gelcoat can’t even notice it
 
Sheesh. Must have been some kind of impact to cause that? Yikes.

I'm sure the glass could be fixed but could it have caused any other damage? Have you climbed up to see what the top of the arch looks like?
 
Stee6043 said:
Sheesh. Must have been some kind of impact to cause that? Yikes.

I'm sure the glass could be fixed but could it have caused any other damage? Have you climbed up to see what the top of the arch looks like?
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen any other damage that looks like it’s related to that.

Without knowing how the crack got there I’m worried that it might just come back after it’s repaired.
 
Last edited:
I’d have to disagree with with Stee6043 slightly. It looks like damage caused by the arch flexing. Now that could have been a one time impact event like being trailered into a barn and the arch hitting the door frame and causing it to bend too much, but it could also just be the arch moving on its own.

Keep in mind the arches flex just in normal operation and due to thermal expansion. Normally the design takes this into consideration in the layup of the glass in the underlying structure and the thickness of the gelcoat. And the canvas can add to this as well.

That said, some things can make it worse. Running in the ocean in heavy seas at speed can cause flexing. One of my neighbors has a commercial Tuna boat with an aluminum tower/second station. He spends hundreds each spring having cracks ground and welded because he’s out 24x7 during the season in all kinds of weather. Additionally stuff like radar arrays, sat tv domes, searchlights, vhf antennas all add weight and wind resistance that contribute to flex.

The important thing is whether this crack is just in the gelcoat, or both gelcoat and fiberglass. If the former it’s cosmetic and at the worst it will be reoccurring every year. If it’s the latter the issue is more complex in the manner of repair and might require some modification to correct.

This really needs an eyes on inspection by a good fiberglass guy. It’s not difficult to fix, but does need to be done by someone with experience to prevent recurrence.

In the meantime, what’s the equipment inventory on the top of the arch? Was the boat used for a lot of ocean cruising? These answers might give you a clue as to possible causes.

Other than it’s something to be fixed, I wouldn’t automatically rule out this boat until it can be properly evaluated. Gelcoat is available for Sea Rays that is a perfect color match, and the right guy can fix that in no time.
 
I think that crack is more than cosmetic, as you can see the underlying defect under the gelcoat. Cracks/ spider cracks in the gelcoat are common and easily repaired. However, that seems to be something in the underlying fiberglass. Get a good fiberglass/gelcoat guy to inspect and quote repair.

This isn't a deal breaker to me unless further inspection finds bigger issues.

Capture.PNG
 
Depending on the internal structure of the arch and the environment the boat was stored in, trapped water (ingress via arch antennas, etc) can freeze and cause this sort of splitting.

I had this happen on a lower section of an aluminum arch on a previous boat...
 
dtfeld said:
I think that crack is more than cosmetic, as you can see the underlying defect under the gelcoat. Cracks/ spider cracks in the gelcoat are common and easily repaired. However, that seems to be something in the underlying fiberglass. Get a good fiberglass/gelcoat guy to inspect and quote repair.

This isn't a deal breaker to me unless further inspection finds bigger issues.

View attachment 98158
Click to expand...
Great eye!!!
 
Had an arch on a 268. Did not like. 200+ lbs of useless weight up high upsetting balance and always in way getting on boat or going forward on gunnels.
 
I appreciate the responses but I think I’m moving on from this boat. It’s overpriced, has too many issues and not really getting timely responses from the selling dealership. This one issue was the one that pushed me away from the table though.
 
jmauld said:
I appreciate the responses but I think I’m moving on from this boat. It’s overpriced, has too many issues and not really getting timely responses from the selling dealership. This one issue was the one that pushed me away from the table though.
Click to expand...
Timely response! I like that, wife and I on mission tmrw. #1- gave canvas guy $700 down in fall for work to get on list he told me would be done December January. 3 emails later, He don’t reply. THEN i could kept boat at my marina free but paid $600 to store at marina with a high rated mechanic who knows I need I/o work and won’t return calls. Deciding if I should bring the 44. Cause I about had with begging people to take my money.
 
And that even count my shed full of junk that my son left before he moved to California and all the junk haulers that I called and no shows. Da fuq! You can’t give money away these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,187
Messages
1,428,211
Members
61,098
Latest member
Klawson83
Back
Top