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Post by bellacorsa on Jun 18, 2010 4:28:14 GMT
I am a new 2010 45DS owner who is surprised and disappointed. I have chips occurring in the cockpit at the port side cockpit locker and the stern starboard side locker. I just took possession of the boat in mid April and it has not been out more than half a dozen times. Are these chips in the fiberglass (gel-coat?) normal? I am very surprised as two years ago I participated in a fractional interest program with a 37' Jeanneau that was 5 years old and other than the normal wear and tear the boat looked great. In fact, I thought it held up incredibly well given there were 8 to 10 captains sailing her over several years. I spoke with two Jeanneau owners at my marina (2 year old 45 DS and 6 year 43?) and neither of them has had this problem. Anybody else experiencing this?  |
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Post by Zanshin on Jun 18, 2010 5:40:37 GMT
It is diificult to ascertain if these gelcoat problems were caused by dirty spots in the moulds during construction or due to objects such as winch handles cracking the layer. My guess would be the former. During construction a layer of gelcoat is sprayed in the mould and then fiberglass is layed up - the boat is constructed from the outside in. If the glass on the inside is dirty (i.e. a spot of oil) then the two layers might not adhere in a spot and then heat/cold or other mechanical stress might cause it to pop off in spots. This would happen from the inside out and thus the gelcoat crack would look like that on the right side of the picture, the outward-slanting crack on the lefthand side looks more like an object dropped on the gelcoat would look like.
Cleaning with acetone and then applying a gelcoat repair compound (and some careful sanding and buffing once finished) will make the spot disappear.
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Post by electricmonk on Jun 18, 2010 7:11:47 GMT
could be related - I dont know - but when you drop a oyster shell from 100ft onto the deck it makes a dent in the gelcoat, the seaguls around Dover were getting very good at it just before we left! Ask your Jenneau Agent to get you a kilo (its the smallest) tin of the right colour gelcoat - there are about 6 whites! Mix with POLYESTER catalyst. Follow the notes in the previous reply. Infuriating is what I call it!
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