Cracks in gelcoat

[JustStartin]

Hi, first time poster here.  I'm looking to buy my first sailboat and have decided that I like the Com-Pac 19 the best for what sailing I'm looking to do.  I looked at a CP 19 today that had some cracks in the gel coat.  One of the cracks in particular was just above the water line and when I knocked on it with my knuckle, it gave a very dense sound in response.  This sound was much different than knocking on other areas of the hull.  Can anyone tell me if this is due to water getting behind the gelcoat?

[Glenn Basore]

Well, you convinced me, now move on to another boat !

Glenn

[Lost Lake]

Whaaaa??

[JustStartin]

Whaaaa??

Not sure if your response is for me or Glenn.  I'm simply asking if water behind a crack in the gelcoat would give a different sound when knocked on in comparison to the normal sound a hull gives.

It's a moot point by now because I've already passed this particular boat up and have agreed on purchasing another Com-Pac 19. 

[Lost Lake]

Naaah, I was replying to Glenn..... Congrats om the vessel!!! I travel to Detroit often, perhaps we could sail her this summer!!

[JustStartin]

Naaah, I was replying to Glenn..... Congrats om the vessel!!! I travel to Detroit often, perhaps we could sail her this summer!!

That'd be great...always looking for someone to teach me a thing or to!

[Craig Weis]

Gel-coat cracks...first in a discussion with Rich from the manufacture of Com-Pac Yachts at the All Sailboat Show in Chicago two years ago..Rich said that their boats have no gel coat.

I take that to mean that the first and only application of glass and resin into the boat's mold is of HAND LAY UP RESIGEN IMPREGNATED WOVEN FIBERGLASS MATT structure. Layered on the bias and rolled into the mold forcing air bubbles out as opposed to how some boats are made; a blown-in gelcoat that could contain a color, a metal flake applique, or desired textured surface usually followed by a black mask to fill in any open spaces between the metal flake of this gel coat. Immediately followed by a layer of chopped fiberglass that is resign impregnated, blown in and air bubbles rolled out over the top of this first gel-coat. Or the part of the finish that the eye first sees.

The matt fiberglass proved to be more costly, color impregnated, a bit slower, but much much stronger, more stable and foregiving, as the glass Woven fibers are left long and not short chopped. You want cheap...go chop.

I can not really see how 'hair line cracks' at the surface can be much of a deterant to purchasing this type of boat having this type of construction. My C-P 19 has a few hairline cracks and I filled them with crack filler from WestMarine, sanded them down and finished these off with Chrome Polish. It took forever but the cracks are filled, covered, and blended in. Then waxed. The cracks were around the 'landings' for the life stanchions, bow and stern pulpits. Generally where hardware was overly tightened and the fiberglass stressed.  "You don't need to squezze the water out of the bolt". [ Thanks Dad ] He always said that kind of stuff when he saw me "putting a little too much hair around it." [ Another thank's Dad ].

Just to point out something here, I looked at a Rhodes 19 keel boat on the same day that I bought my Com-Pac. The Rhodes had been carelessly tied to a dock with a spike sticking out of the dock. The wave pounding on Washington Island had left a 2 inch dia hole in the tan hull above the waterline. But because of the Rhodes WOVEN GLASS construction simular to Com-Pac's this was, for me, not a deterarnt. The deep draw keel was and with no comfort from the weather, fitted with  just an open cutty cabin of the Rhodes I judged the boat as more of a daysailer and less of an overnighter/boat camper. skip.