Small cracks in my upper deck

[Nosidam]

Hello,

I am new to Daysailer.org. I have a DS1 and am in need of some guidance. Overall the hull is in pretty good shape. I have removed the rub rail and am working on cleaning up the hull to start replacing all of the wood. (anyone with good pictures of how the trim around the cockpit is shaped and attached would be appreciated)

This forum has helped me to aquire floorboard plans and some guidance on rigging.

My biggest and probably most important issue right now is that I have noticed small cracks running along the outer edges of the deck along the cockpit. Does anyone know the best way to fix these. they do not appear to be structurally damaging but they clearly are deep into the coating of the hull.

I will post pictures as soon as I can.

Thank you all for your help and guidance.

Madison

[CCaps]

Hey Madison,

Welcome to the forum! Without seeing pictures it sounds like you have some crazing (cracks) appearing in the actual gelcoat, and if that is so I wouldn't be alarmed as it isn't a major structural issue. When I fixed up my daysailer there were tons of little pitted and hairline cracks on deck, it's pretty common for boat of this vintage. You might do best to get some kind of repair kit like the one sold here: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... Repair+Kit
You can match the color and fill in the cracks. If you plan on painting your topsides you could use some fairing putty or Marine Tex before you prime+paint the surface to get it smooth. Best of luck

Chris

[CCaps]

Here is a some photo of the wood combings. I've trimmed mine flush with the deck in some sections for hiking out.

[thumb=1020]

[GreenLake]

The problem with cosmetic cracks, if there are many of them, is that you'd need to widen each a bit with a scraper or other tool before you can fill them with new gelcoat. (As they are, they are too narrow to allow the new gelcoat to be squeezed into them.)

If there are literally millions of them, that approach doesn't seem practical unless you are supremely patient...

If you just paint them over, they will telegraph through the deck paint. (That's the state my boat was in, when I got it).

Sanding, and putting a new layer of glass over the cracks and then finsihing might be give you the ultimate repair - but is overkill for non-structural cracks.

Leaves applying something else in a thin layer over the cracks. The question is what, though, and I've not yet tried to fix the problem on my boat, so I can't tell you somthing that is guaranteed to work

(I rather go sailing).

I wonder whether anyone knows enough about the properties of epoxy fairing compounds compared to gelcoat repair kits. Would the former be less prone to cracking at the same places if applied as thin layer over the cracks? Epoxy is generally less brittle than gelcoat.

Could be a way to not have to treat every single crack individually (deck needs to be well sanded, and after applying fairing compound, it needs to be painted, of course).