cracks in gelcoat?

[bay local]

I was looking at a boat to buy the other day and it has cracks in the gelcoat on the transome. It's an older boat they are mostly on the bottom half. The transome still seem's really solid. I was wondering if it was any thing to be concerned about.
Thanks

[robothefisho]

Pretty normal for older boats, actually reasonably normal for any fibreglass boat. Thats not to say the transom isn't stuffed though.

[Jarrah Jack]

I wouldn't call it normal. Its generally an indication of too much flex at some stage in its life. The thing to work out is whether it indicates a structural problem that would be yours if you brought the boat. Did you put all your weight on the motor with it tilted out to see if there was any flex in the transom?

[bay local]

I wouldn't call it normal. Its generally an indication of too much flex at some stage in its life. The thing to work out is whether it indicates a structural problem that would be yours if you brought the boat. Did you put all your weight on the motor with it tilted out to see if there was any flex in the transom?

Yeah I had the motor up and was pushing down and couldn't notice any flex still seemed pretty solid. There was a few cracks though. What would need to be done to fix the cracks? If I do buy it I was going to get a boat inspection done on it for peace of mind.

[svranjic]

My glass runabout had hairline cracks on the transom capping. They did not seem structural, just seemed like hairline stuff. 12 months later when I had the motor off it became apparent the transom needed redoing.

Where exactly are the cracks???? are there any cracks around the outboard bolt holes???? What kind of transom capping does is have??? is there aluminium strips on top of the capping?

The thing is its ok to say there is no flex in the transom but has water ingresses into the transom and started the rotting process??? Sometimes a transom has water ingress but its not so far gone that you can pick it up whilst jumping on the back of the outboard looking for flex. The only way to tell is to drill pilot holes from the inside.

Anyhow my advise would be yes hairline cracks on fiberglass boats (especially old ones) is common due to flex and or areas of weakness. However hairline cracks around the transom area should be looked into thoroughly.

[Jarrah Jack]

Yeah I had the motor up and was pushing down and couldn't notice any flex still seemed pretty solid. There was a few cracks though. What would need to be done to fix the cracks? If I do buy it I was going to get a boat inspection done on it for peace of mind.

Svranjic is onto it seeing he had to do his transom. Usually if the transom is gone the floor and the stringers have gone too. An expensive exercise to fix..

[business class]

Gelcoat cracks arent something that would worry me too much if its just hairline fractures. If there actually full blown cracks to where there is seperation in the fibreglass then that can become an issue. If your near brisbane i can reccomend a good guy to do an inspection as he actually did a cut and shut on my boat and re did all the stringers and floor too, not that they needed doing but while i had the transome off ya may aswell go the full tilt. He is really good at what he does and is also very cheap for all his work. Alot of people have used adam now and all reccomend him.

[bay local]

Thanks for the replys. I decided to give that boat a miss so it's back to looking. If any one know's of an 18Ft fiberglass runabout with no motor in good condition just let me know.
Thanks.