Cracks where cabin trunk meets foredeck

[wes]

Help needed from experienced 27 owners! Does this look serious? It's the 1988 boat I am in process of buying. Based on photo and MacGyver's inspection (I have not seen it in person yet) I'm trying to sort out the seriousness of this. Apparently the cracks exist on both port and starboard sides. Seems to me like this be a very strong part of the boat and not an area that's normally under much stress. If the cracks are relatively deep, I'm wondering whether is any wood core in this area that would make the repair more difficult.

Wes

[MacGyver]

For some reason Wes' picture isnt showing up for me, so here is what he is talking about:

Like he said, port and starboard are like this, these images show the Starboard side.





Mac 

[Allure2sail]

Cracks...
Have a surveyor check the deck with a moisture meter to see if they are still sound, any water that get into the core of the deck is not good. Between the cabin sole needing to be replaced and the potential deck issues I would proceed cautiously. As for what is under the cabin sole, nothing is the answer. Once dug out and removed you can see the keel pocket where they pour the ballast into which is cement with some scrap metal pieces tossed in for extra weight. There is a recessed area in the floor equal to the thickness of the sole. Best of luck....
Bruce

[Koinonia]

How did we go from the deck to the cabin sole on this one?  My boat has stress cracks in the same spots but they are just in the gel coat.  Yours should also be cosmetis but a check with a moisture meter will tell you for sure.

[moonlight]

My understanding is that ComPac's are built with microballons instead of wood coring; I'd call Gerry to be sure as year-to-year there may have been differences.  If it's all plastic, ignore the cracks or gouge them out and re-gelcoat, but moisture in core is then a non-issue.  I wouldn't expect core in any corner area like that on any boat though.

[Koinonia]

Your right, the core is microbaloons which I can verify since I cut a hole in my deck for another anchor line.  Koinonia is an 86 year model, hull #4

[skip1930]

Well  if it's all micro balloons [plastic] and not wood, just fill the crack with some crack fill, I would probably use my favorite stuff, Marine-Tex, sand and polish out all the excess or overage with automotive polishing compound. Keep working it down till just the crack is filled. Remove all the excess while the Marine-Tex is still soft. About 15 minutes till you can't work it anymore. If you wait too long then it's a lot more work to smooth and polish out. It's going to be the width of the crack so color match is of little concern.

skip.

[wes]

I got a quick response from Gerry today (my hero) and here's what he says:

Wes - those cabin corner cracks are fairly common on the older 27's.  Later
on we retooled the deck mold and made the radius there larger which spread
the load and stopped the incidents of cracks.

There is nothing there that can be hurt.  No wood in that area.

Gerry

[moonlight]

Also, if you do go after filling them for cosmetic or other reasons, open them up!  This is where a good old can opener (like for punching holes in a V8 can) comes in handy.  Use that sharp edge and drag through the crack; the more you open it, the more you have to bond to.  Makes MarineTex less of a favorite; you might want a simple gelcoat color kit, but again, the wider the gouge the better the chance of it sticking and staying.

[wes]

This just in from Keith Scott at The Sailboat Company, who has forgotten more about Com-Pacs than I will ever know. He is somewhat less optimistic than Gerry. So, 27 guys with early generation boats, have you had this problem and successfully fixed it?

Hello Wes,

These cracks are larger than normal.  They changed the mold on later boats to a curve at the deck/cabin joint that fixed the problem.  A simple cosmetic fix doesn't work.

The deck is too flexible and the cabin isn't.  I bet the man that owned the boat was 200 pounds or more and he jumped from the cabin to the deck more than once.  Make the deck rigid and then you can repair the crack.  Filler of any kind in that area is a waste of time.  Com-Pac embeds a support across and under the deck on 23s to solve a similar problem.  It's not going to be easy.  Good luck. 

What happen to the warm weather?  It's cold down here.  Take care.  Keith

[jimyoung]

I have an '86 and have been fighting this problem off and on for about 15 years.  So far I have (a) 'Roto-ed" and re-gelcoated the cracks, they came back, (b) when I reworked the interior added two layers of mat glass on the inside around the corners, re gelcoated again... they came back, (c) when I painted the boat, (Awlgrip) best decision I ever wrestled over,  I opened the cracks again and filled with epoxy before priming and paint.... guess what.... they are back.  Smaller but there they are.  I can see NO structural damage, the cracks have never been more than surface deep and the latest are not where I epoxied before painting.

Not sure what I will try next time I am working in the area but if you come upon a fix that works, let me know.