Questions about Fiberglass Cracking Below Waterline

Some below the waterline pics of a Hatteras I looked at yesterday. The boat was in poor condition, I'm not going to purchase it. But, I'm curious if what I found under the hull was a concern I should be looking for on other boats?

The large blisters were a turn off, and there were many. I was surprised, I've always heard Hatteras hulls were indestructible. Anyways, the bottom of the hull had long cracks in the gelcoat, all over the place. . .the underside of the fly bridge had the same cracks.

Any explanation as to what I'm looking at? Example pics below. thanks!

Dropped from a travel lift & rolled over a couple times back into the water?

Looks like a sandy survivor. Hard impacts with hard objects below the waterline. Also something like a tree falling on the fb.


Via iPhone.

wow that is rough looking

Something else is going on with the hull. We had a boat drooped off a travel lift and it didn't look like that. Maybe lots of moisture and then a hard freeze?

What a mess. How much is the asking price and what is the year and model?

Asking was $39,000 obo. 1973 Hatteras Double Cabin Motor Yacht. Large areas of soft deck, rot under windows, engine room was a mess, etc.. . .pictures online and talking with the guy on the phone did not paint the picture I witnessed, lol. . .

cool beans said:

Asking was $39,000 obo. 1973 Hatteras Double Cabin Motor Yacht. Large areas of soft deck, rot under windows, engine room was a mess, etc.. . .pictures online and talking with the guy on the phone did not paint the picture I witnessed, lol. . .

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IMO - RUNNNNNNN! Away from that boat even if provided for free!!

Hatteras was known for having blisters, most all being superficial. You would benefit from reading David Pascoe's "Mid sized Power Boats", well worth the 70 bucks. His articles on blisters on his web sites are a good introduction. As far as the cracking, that is unusual and hard to tell what was going on from the pics. Over the course of 42 years, who knows what may have happened. I'd agree that "free" would be too high a price for that boat.

I see multiple causes. I see typical blisters. I'm see impact damage. But also, some things that I would not want to diagnose without taking off the bottom paint and possibly the gel and the first layer of Matt.

Of course, you can't typically do that pre-purchase.

The point being that if you are buying a breed with good bones, then it's really a matter of guesstimating repair costs. Use either per square foot guesses, or whole hull depending on extent. At some point whole hull is cheaper than per square foot.

Usually it's cheaper to find the boat with the fewest issues. Usually, but not always. A little scratchpad math often tells the story.

Yes, you should be looking for these issues, even on boats with good bones.

The only simple thing about boat buying, is after objectively looking at enough boats, one day you board the one that the math is so clear and obvious that you don't need to scratch out any math. When it's that easy, move fast. Until then drag your heels.

There are two ways I know of to locate the best used-boat that fits your needs...


1. Know what you want and look objectively at MANY boats till the correct one eventually comes into view - then pounce to tie it up in prelim purchase documents.


2. Know what you want and be very lucky that the correct one quickly comes into view - then pounce to tie it up in prelim purchase documents.

ghost said:

The point being that if you are buying a breed with good bones, then it's really a matter of guesstimating repair costs. Use either per square foot guesses, or whole hull depending on extent. At some point whole hull is cheaper than per square foot.

Usually it's cheaper to find the boat with the fewest issues. Usually, but not always. A little scratchpad math often tells the story.

Yes, you should be looking for these issues, even on boats with good bones.

The only simple thing about boat buying, is after objectively looking at enough boats, one day you board the one that the math is so clear and obvious that you don't need to scratch out any math. When it's that easy, move fast. Until then drag your heels.

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Yes, you pay for it now or pay for it later. . .and if you pay for it now, you get the built in "depreciation discount" from buying a boat with it already done

Been on 8 boats so far. Scratch pad math is telling me what I already know and just don't want to admit. . .what I want and what I want to pay for are 2 totally different things

Art, I'm still trying to figure out what exactly I want. . .I want to live aboard. And I want some local cruising adventures. I've been chasing 40'+ motor yachts that in great condition would be out of my budget. The ones I can afford, all need work. . .and I've been there, done that with my sailboat. I know I don't want that, or at least too much of that

I'm also unsure of how long I will be living aboard. I'm hesitant to take out a house sized boat mortgage and then get my fill of living on the boat after only 5-6 years.

Unless some unicorn of a boat comes along, I'm thinking a bit smaller and gas powered. Those trojan 36 tri-cabins and Chris Craft 350 Catalina have caught my eye again. . .even a Tolley Craft 34 has a similar layout.

I am kinda hoping that I do just stumble onto the right boat and it clicks

cool beans said:

Asking was $39,000 obo. 1973 Hatteras Double Cabin Motor Yacht. Large areas of soft deck, rot under windows, engine room was a mess, etc.. . .pictures online and talking with the guy on the phone did not paint the picture I witnessed, lol. . .

Click to expand...

39k?? wow is it 90 feet long?

I did a boat trader search as a "state of the market" thingy yesterday and there are quite a few boats that are in way better shape than that for that or a just bit more. Winter is always a buyers market.

That is surely them paying you $39k to haul it off?

Until you go look at a boat you have NO IDEA if its worth the asking price. Or even worth looking at. There is no way you can say "I found XXX boats better than that at half the price" unless you took the time to go look, and better yet, knew what to look for. There are a lot of top name boats out there with big asking prices that are pure junk. Some are owned by us !!!!

IMO... Boat Value Rule o' Thumb; i.e. approximations (regarding 30 to 50 foot boats):

Crap Condition Boat - Should be priced at $250 to $500 per foot (basically not worth anything)

Barely OK Condition Boat - $500 to $750

Decent Condition - $750 to $1000

Good Condition - $1000 to $1250

Very Good Condition - $1250 to $1500

Excellent Condition Boat - $1500 to $2500

That said - - > Find the best boat you can and make an offer you can afford. If it's accepted great; if not - then move on to find a nother good boat and make your next offer. Eventually things will jibe.

Happy Boat-Search Daze! - Art

Nothing is indistructable

cool beans said:

Some below the waterline pics of a Hatteras I looked at yesterday. The boat was in poor condition, I'm not going to purchase it. But, I'm curious if what I found under the hull was a concern I should be looking for on other boats?

The large blisters were a turn off, and there were many. I was surprised, I've always heard Hatteras hulls were indestructible. Anyways, the bottom of the hull had long cracks in the gelcoat, all over the place. . .the underside of the fly bridge had the same cracks.

Any explanation as to what I'm looking at? Example pics below. thanks!

Click to expand...

What you are seeing is a case of extreme neglect. Older Hatteras hulls are extremely thick, I have ground out blisters 1/2 deep and just touched the roving. Neglected blisters can lead laminate separation. I would guess this boat ws dry stored in freezing conditions. Water was in the laminate including the roof froze causing the cracking. This hull needs to be stripped, probably not practical given the stated condition. I worked on a Chris craft Comander this spring whose hull had completely delaminated on just one half of the bottom. The repair cost effectively totalled the boat.

My guess is there is/was a too heavy dinghy on top of the aft deck.


Keith

kulas44 said:

Until you go look at a boat you have NO IDEA if its worth the asking price.

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No, I can easily tell that boat isnt worth the asking price. Not even close to it.