Swim platform crack

[gyrospiro]

the boat is out, while inspecting I found this crack in the swim platform support. I don't know how long its been there
bought boat in July, surveyor and i did not notice it. The support appears to be sturdy some water did weep out of the crack. Whats the correct way to fix?

 

[jgoedd99]

I have the exact same thing on both sides of my 1998 370, at the first tab in from the edge. The PO was "big" guy so i assume the weight cracked it. When you stand on the back edge of the platform there was a 1/8 inch or so deflection.

I caught it during the survey and the dealer "fixed" it. He had someone grind it out and put a fiberglass filler of some sort in. He gelcoated it and it looked great. Unfortunately at haul out this fall, i discovered one side held up and the other has recracked.

I intend to repair properly in the spring (after it has the winter to dry out). The wood in the support is showing moisture. I intend to grind it out, use a filler to build up a fillet, and then lay in several alternating layers of mat and roving. I will do this on both sides of the tab.

John G

 

[fwebster]

It needs to be repaired. The swim platforms are usually cored with plywood and plywood and water don't mix well together in an enclosed space. Catch it now and its a simple repair; wait and it gets a lot more involved and expensive.

If it were mine, I'd grind out the crack and lay in some glass cloth to rebuild the ground out area and add strength, then re-gelcoat it. Right now, it is such a small repair that I'd probably consider getting your dealer to do it . You are going to have to buy minimum quantities of the various supplies to do the repair and your dealer already has open containers of resin/epoxy, cloth and gelcoat sitting around. This might be one place where it is cheaper to let the dealer do it.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Interesting timing on this. Our 280 has the exact same cracks. I am in the process of having a fiberglass guy repair it. He tells me that the stringers look like they were made from some kind of composite material as what he is grinding out is not wood. The other interesting thing is that he also tells me that the stringers do not have beveled, or a rounded edge. It looks to him like the fiberglass is cracking because the fiberglass wants to have a radius as it goes over the corner and has created an air bubble along the length of the stringer. I am supposed to go look at the boat tomorrow and will report back.

Henry

 

[go-hokies]

I had this issue on my 310 when I purchased. Knew it was an issue and adjusted price. Mine was much worse and the wood or whatever was soaked. I had a black liquid draining out. While on hard, removed platform, took to my garage and proceed to investigate. What I found was not the best construction practices (improper radi as mentioned above) Where platform met the boat I ended up cutting that out and filled with transom saver and re glassed. While there, we purchased some transom saver and made a mold and filled then glassed such that my swim platform stringers now look like 4 x 4 's. Platform is much sturdier and this was my first glass project so I had a buddy help who was an old salt at this stuff. So..... Repair now....looks like you caught it early. This was probably about 300 in materials, but was pretty big project but I know it was done right.