2112

Remember this is a production line boat(as opposed to a custom).

I had one (32 Fever)made and when I looked in places I wasn't expected to look, I decided to completely gut the boat and reinforce the entire deck with added mini stringers and additional high grade glass underneath all the gunwale caps. Also ended up adding "side stringers" to the hull sides from the front bulkhead to the bilge bulkhead. I felt the boat had an extreme weak area at the windscreen/step section and wanted to completely reinforce that area. This was a new boat.

I am now so deep into the boat I will probably always have it. Next will be the snarl of wires and cables from the bilge to the dash

sackenhopper

2112 , if i understand you, you're saying the cracks are because the boat isnt built solidly in the first place? How can they call it an offshore if it cant hold up to a couple feet of wake and stuff?

2112

Yours? I am not qualified to say. Mine? Very poorly constructed. 25 grand to fix it. If you can remove the plywood frame that supports the cabinets with one tug of the bare hands, it can be a bad sign.

They design great hulls. Mine was built with no regard for strength.

sackenhopper

I think my next boat will be an Active Thunder

sleeper_dave

2112... so you bought a new boat, took it apart, and reinforced everything? Why?

Honestly, if all you're going to do is run in "a couple foot" waves, you could probably remove all the stringers and bulkheads forward of the back seat, and never have a problem. If you look around the internet for some that have been wrecked, they hold together pretty well. Just because it doesn't look strong in a particular area doesn't mean it isn't.

Yes, it's a production boat, and the rigging may leave a bit to be desired, as well as fit / finish in areas that aren't visible to the average user, but i've found the overall strength of the hull to be pretty damn good without any additional reinforcement. And I've put mine through some uncommon stress.

sackenhopper

Can I conclude that the Spider cracks on the deck/gunwale are mostly cosmetic and due to weak construction practices but not necessarily a serious structural problem with the boat hull.

US1 Fountain

iTrader: (1)

The spider cracks you are seeing are nothing more than the Gel coat crack do to hull flexing. Not from weak construction practices. Every boat flex's. ...even Active Thunders. Every boat has some cracks, if they ever see water. The cracks are nothing more than cosmetics. Gel is brittle. Think of them as scratches in your cars paint, yet the metal underneath is good as new.
No, you can't sand/buff them out. They are hairline cracks, not scratches. I've been told by another Fountain owner he had some gel cracks repaired and they never came back.

sackenhopper

thanks

2112

I bought back in the days before the big price cuts. It was a special order with vacuum bagged lay up which was a extra cost option. I told them I wanted a tough boat and was planning on big power.
It was a reject on delivery due to terrible cosmetic issues with the Gel coat. after a year of arguing, they hauled it back and gave it a Macco paint job and said "it's yours, get lost.

I owned it for two years before I couldn't stand the loose cabinet in the cuddy and the flex in the deck when I walked across it. (I am 200lbs) So I started to disassemble and it went from there. I could not ignore the non-marine plywood, single sheet of glass deck to hull bonding, non sealed drain holes through wood stringers etc so I corrected everything.

I still own the boat. probably always will. It is fast and handles good. I am positive when you buy a 47' with two 1075 mercs you get a different build than what I got for the $120K I spent 10 years ago

Picture 1 the actual vacuum bagged results (this is a actual cut out of boat. Note how well the Home depot plywood fits the layup. If they had just rounded the corners it would have laid in better.

Picture 2 is the only thing holding the cabinet to the hull and the deck to the hull. peeled out with my hands.

Picture 3 is the newly glassed in cabinet and the horizontal stringer added to the hull side just below the cabinet.

I posted just in case you thought I was blowing smoke up your...

sleeper_dave

Can't see the pics, they took that privelege away from us non-paying deadbeats again. It was nice while it lasted, though.

I don't think you're blowing smoke up my ass, I think you just may be one of the few people more picky than I am. I can only speak for my own boat, which is far from custom. The deck doesn't flex when I walk on it (i'm 225 or so) and as best I can tell the plywood is marine grade, but I really wouldn't be able to verify that. I have gotten a look under the floor in the cabin, though, and I didn't really like what I saw. The drain holes weren't properly sealed, and I didn't like that. There were also some minor fiberglass problems that I fixed fairly easily, but nothing that would have any structural implications. I'm satisfied that the construction of my boat is pretty damn strong, and that it'll stack up favorably in that department to just about anything on the lake.