Gel cracks around deck windows 42DS

[Anne]

Hello,

I am new to the forum. There was a thread about this subject in 2013 in response to a post by Vince and I am wondering if anyone has an update. 

We went to look at a 2007 42DS recently with a view to buying it. It has cracks which are probably about 2mm wide by about 15cm long in the gel coat radiating out from the corners of the large forward deck windows. The cracks are at the corners furthest away from the mast. At one point it is clear that water has penetrated through the window seal.

I am wondering whether this is a serious issue or whether the cracks just need filling. 

In the previous post there was some suggestion that it could be caused by compression of the mast support. 

Thank you for any light you are able to shed on this.

[Meshuggana]

Every 42DS has this problem as I checked out 4 when I was looking to buy mine. Although the crack was not big enough for the ingres of water.  It’s a design flaw due to the mold design and the expansion/contraction due to the thermal fluctuations of the seasons for those of us who store our boats in the Canadian North for the winter.😀

Allen

[Tafika II]

They are normal on most SO42DS's. We ground our's out with a fine point Dremel and filled the with pre-colored filler gelcoat )Benneteau Pure White). Looks fine now. Did it about 8 months ago...no more cracks. Never had any leaks

[Anne]

Thank you very much TafikaII and meshuggana for your comments. Very reassuring. 

WT