Death, Taxes, and Cape Dory Crazing

[Robert Douglas]

Hi everyone,

I come hat in hand once again with a CD care question. When we purchased our CD 30 MKII last year she had typical crazing for her age and the survey moister meter showed two small spots with elevated levels. Having owed a 25D for over 10 years I felt comfortable with the boat's condition and she was in excellent condition otherwise. This winter we lived aboard and the stresses caused by shrinkwrap windage while tied to the dock caused a bunch more crazing and now we may have a problem on our hands. The dockside side deck has hairline cracks every few inches for much of its length and the deckhouse picked up some too in the area of the winches. It may take us a couple years to afford or figure out how to fix the deck ourselves. I heard it was possible to wax non-skid and wondered if giving the whole deck a good waxing would help protect the crazed areas in the meantime? Does anyone have expeirience with this? Thanks for any help the community can provide.

Best,
Robert

[gonesail]

is this mostly in the gel coat? sometimes dirt or mold can get in the cracks and make them stand out against the white gel coat. the guy who surveyed my boat said they were normal. i met an owner who repaired all the cracks on his boat .. looked fantastic but i bet it was a tough job. i guess if you lived in an area that freezes often the ice might be able to enlarge the cracks.

[Robert Douglas]

Sorry, yes all gelcoat crazing I think. Though 3 small areas toward the stern are perhaps a little bad and could use a repair I maybe, sort of look wider than most other areas. But, the majority may be cosmetic, just did not know if things could get worse overtime eventually impacting the fiberglass and core. Perhaps I am worrying too much. I know crazing in the gel coat is normal for Cape Dory's - would love to fix it, but yeah as you point out tough job!

[sgbernd]

I can think of a couple scenarios...

1) the cracks were always there, but now dirt has settled or mildew is growing in them making them unsightly. In this case, it is relatively easy to use an algaecide or bleach to kill it and scub it off after it has died with a stiff brush. I use the pool and spa algaecide from Chlorax but there are other products as well. In this scenario, the cracks are cosmetic. The stress cracks on my boat's gel coat follow the stress risers, where things are trying to flex. Most of those areas are not cored, so it doesn't really matter if you grind and fill them or not. And even if you do, sometimes they come back again because the flexing didn't go away and as soon as the new gel coat gets old and brittle, it cracks again in the same place.

2) You may be looking at something more serious, such as water in core froze over the winter, and the expansion caused delamination. In this scenario, the new cracks will be over the cored areas rather than the solid glass areas. In this is the case, you will have to deal with it, sooner or later, because the cracks will allow more water ingress and accelerate the core rot.

Hopefully, it is just algae.

Steve Bernd

[John Stone]

Yes, notorious crazing. Unless it is through the gelcoat (I doubt it) and into the laminate don't worry about it. When you eventually get around to painting the cabin top (hopefully a very long time if the gelcoat is in otherwise good condition) you can use a rotax disk for the bad ones and fill with epoxy and fairing compound and sand smooth. Then paint with Awlgrip or similar two part LPU paint.

I would not wax your deck. That would be a mistake. Wash it? Yes. Wax it? No. Unless perhaps it is some kind of formula for non skid. But even then I would not.

[Robert Douglas]

Hi John, sgbernd, and gonesail,

I can't thank you guys enough for your experienced perspective and advice on this. Heart skipped a beat when the wrap came-off, but I knew gelcoat crazing was generally ok if not through to the substrait - but still felt nervous. Since the boat was surveyed less than a year ago with a thumbs-up for the deck minus a couple small spots I am aware of I think all will be fine. I will try the pool and spa algaecide from Chlorax for sure - and I will absolutely not wax! I do plan to "learn and do" in terms of the rotax disk, fill, paint procedure for the few places that can benefit from it. Otherwise, will change my focus to actual sailing, imagine!

Thanks again!!
Robert