Cracks in fiberglass, around deck hull seam?

[jaimekop]

Hi everyone,

I looked at 19 for sale today and I saw a few things that might be of concern.

First, cracks on the deck around the mast.  Are these cracks serious enough to be of concern?  Are they normal for a boat this age?  Its a 1984.  Any chance for water to seep in and cause long term damage?  See this picture:


The second area of concern is the deck-hull joint.  The rub rail pulls off easily.  I check only two places, and one I picked at random looked like this:


It appears there was an impact here, so I would guess this is the worst of it.  I was relieved to read on the board here that the duct tape is a factory job... at first I was ready to run away!  Is this just a matter of resealing the deck, and a minor repair with marine-tex or similar?  I think the whole deck/boat joint needs to be resealed.

And finally... do these defects devalue the boat?  The boat is in otherwise solid condition.  I'm not afraid of making repairs, but I don't want to be putting effort into a boat that can't be properly restored with reasonable effort.  Outside of hull looks good, never painted, original decals.  I looked in the cabin under the births and can see everything is solid and clean.  There are few other spider cracks here and there, but nothing excessive.  It was dirty, but its been undercover in a boat yard all winter.  I had to sneak under the cover to just take a look!

Thanks in advance for your diagnosis,
Jaime

[newt]

Jaime- the crazing over the mast step is OK. I have not seen a wooden mast- I do not think that is factory for 84, but some others may know for sure.  If it is not stock then you need to figure in the price to a mast  and rigging. The delamination- impact area on the edge- that need repairing and would need to be taken off the price of the boat. This might be a case where you need a surveyor- any boat that has had that type of impact damage may have a lot of other things wrong with it.
You may want to send in a bunch more pictures. We are not surveyors but will always give you our opinion.

[Salty19]

Newt-  Probably just a mast crutch. Or one can hope.

Is that the boat in Texas that's been on the market for awhile?

The hull-deck joint doesn't look so good to me--granted I've never repaired one.
Newt is absolutely right..if questionable get a marine survey.  Or pass and get a better one to begin with. 

[jaimekop]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Its true, the wood in the picture is just the mast crutch.  The boat was still under winter cover, so I had to crawl around to get these shots.  A wider angle wasn't possible.

I'm going to sit on this a few days before deciding what to do.  I think I can bounce the pictures off a fiberglass guy to see what he thinks also.

In the mean time, hopefully I can find another 19 or two to see!

Jaime

[Greene]

These boats are built to take a punch, but it looks to me like that one has been hit hard and often.  Is it from a hurricane zone?  I wouldn't be surprised if it was damaged by some kind of storm.  Personally I would keep looking.  There has been a steady supply of 19's on the market and I am sure you'll find one that speaks to you.  Any Com-Pac is repairable, but unless this one is a real bargain keep shopping.

Did anyone buy that nice 19 in Missouri?  The guy had a buyer walk on him and was looking for a new buyer.  It was in really nice shape and well rigged.  Check Craigslist.

Mike

[jaimekop]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for your take on these problems.

Decision made:  I'm going to stay away.

Jaime

[curtisv]

Look for signs of water intrusion at the mast step.  I think they were still using wood under the mast step in 1984, but not sure.  Larry Bracken reported having mush under his CP23 mast step and a labor intensive DIY repair job.

btw - I've heard of DIY furler but never DIY 2x4 mast.  Novel idea.  Check for signs of stress at any knots in the mast.  :-)

Curtis