Crazy crazing - what to do about it?

[Seachelle]

Hey, friends!

I've come across a Com-pac 23 I am interested in and, after a conversation on the phone with the owner re: my questions, concerns, etc, the owner has sent me a number pics of the boat detailing/addressing my questions.

One of my questions concerned crazing — I've seen crazing on hulls and decks — and I am surmising it can happen in an interior of a cabin as well?

Is crazing mostly cosmetic, or is there concern for water intrusion — I am assuming the latter? How does one go about repairing it?

As I'm uncertain as to how to upload pics to this forum, I have, instead, uploaded some pics of the crazing on this particular boat to my website.

You can view the pics at this link: https://sailawaywithchelle.wordpress.com/1980-com-pac-23-pics/
Note: Click on each pic to enlarge it for better detail!

Please let me know your feedback asap — thank you so very much!

~ Chelle
2021 Com-pac Legacy | SV Sunflower (Sunny)
https://sailawaywithchelle.wordpress.com/

[crazycarl]

Shelle,

The inside isn't crazing, it cracking paint and it's normal to see some light through the fiberglass.  My 19 had the same when we first brought her home.  I sanded it down and repainted it only because anytime we used the v-berth and touched our heads to the cabin, the paint would end up in our hair. 

The outside is crazing.  All boats, especially boats that are routinely trailered will develope crazing.  It usaully isn't very deep.  Sometimes it doesn't even go all the way through the gelcoat.  An easy "fix" is to sand the area down with about a 320 grit and then blow out the tiny cracks.  Apply Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure, let it dry, and paint over it if desired.

"Crazing" isn't deep, cracks can be.  I don't see anything that would diminish the structural intigrity of the boat.   

[brackish]

What Carl said.  The long cracks on the exterior are gelcoat cracks, not structurally alarming, you can fix or ignore, or if you live in freeze land, at least fill them with wax for winter just in case.  The short patchy stuff on the inside is cracked paint.  And yes you can see sunlight through the fiberglass, it is normal, can be repainted if you like or covered with the non woven fabric normally used for headliner material.  The only one that I would want more info on or a better look at is the one between the cable pass through connector and the mast step.  That one could be an indicator of a soft spot or core rot. 

[Seachelle]

Ahhhhh!!!! Thank you so much, crazycarl and brackish! I had wondered about the overhead and ceilings being a paint issue as I had come across another 23 in which the seller spoke about chipped paint, etc. in the same areas (and had, as such, repaired it). The owner of this particular boat, in the pics, didn't think it was paint that was chipping, at least from what I understood that he had said in our phone conversation. But it sounds like it must be.

The boat is about a 5 hour drive for me to see it in person, but given the pics (there were lots of others on top of what I had shared), I think I need to hold off on pursuing it further, and do a bit more research on the other issues that the pics showed.

Patience. It's hard, sometimes! 

[MacGyver]

Those inside are just that, cracking paint. I have seen several Compacs have the issue, I think it is potentially from the non sanded underside not holding the up to the expected grip needed with the paint, this causes the shrink and subsequent release giving us the tell tale flakes.

Your top side cracking all appear to be stress and fitting cracks (which also can be stress dependent on the build in those parts.) Those cracks are a potential issue over time, and the above fix is a way to do it. otherwise grinding them out and gelcoating, or epoxy fill then a repaint job is also in the works.

Even after the complete redo of my boat, and using stages, etc, I still had the sun show thru the glass. This makes it a completely normal thing, so no worry's there. Gelcoat is a hard finish but nothing will beat the suns death rays.

One thing to note, those cracks that are topside, had they been on the underside hull, in the water consistently, becomes a boat destroyer. They lead to delamination (based on intrusion efforts) as well as blistering, rot, structural integrity loss.

Mac