The way I seperated the hull halfs on my 302 was use a hack saw blade on a funky cutter my brother had. Had to be SUPER carefull to not cut into the deck or hull. I have no idea what the bond was made out of as I know that back then Formula did not use anything, so I assume that it was something that one of the previous owners had done.

No, I am talking about the phillips screws that hold the rub rail on. I understood the post to say that the rub rail was loose. My understanding is that the phillips screws on the outside are what hold the rail on. So if they are loose, the rail will move.

no, I was not saying that I ever needed to remove the rubrail to tighten loose through bolts.

This is the really scary part of this. Formula shows them putting the bead of Plexus on, and then lowering the deck over it. If I understand the video and the pictures correctly, it should be impossible for the plexus to get where it is on your boat. I would think that if it got moved, it would be pushed down on the hull when the deck is lowered. IOW, it looks like on your boat that someone screwed up BADLY!

When you say that Plexus wants at least 1/8" in the joint, do you mean 1/8" thick? Can you have more?

Info............

They say a minimum of .05". Thats 1/2 the amount that FF quoted. I've also seen other companies quote between .01 and .03 minimum.

IOW it doesn't seem as if there has to be much in there. Less seems to be better When Formula bolts those joints together I don't think they squeeze it thinner than the above.

Going to my storage today to check on mine. For my sake I'm hoping Formula was more deligent using Plexus on the early boats, as the process being new to them and they wanted to make sure it was done right. I feel for anybody having to deal with this.

Believe me I know that sinking feeling when you realize that your Formula isnt indestructable. Found bad bulkheads in my 311 from a leaking windshield. Bought the 353, found water in the transom from improperly installed exhaust tips and extension boxes(not factory installed).

Makes me wonder about the grid system now. Did Formula start getting sloppy on the production process??

Hope not..


LE

I don't know what product Formula uses. I just thought it was an interesting bulletin. It is for fixing trailers.

Bottom line is.......boats are failing and could be a safety issue if ignored.

- The fiberglass is not ripped apart.
- Plexus works properly if installed per recommendations.
- Decks are separating from the hull.

This is not the end of the world. The repair didn't take that long, and it wasn't THAT expensive.

How much of your boat did you pull apart to fix it?
What did you use to fix it?
Pictures?

You guys are really scaring me I have been looking at 38 fastechs for about a year now. This issue will scare me away and shop for something else.

Don't let this scare you.

That was my point a while back.

No one is sure what or if this is an issue. I see the picture (ONE), and hear the claims, and they very well may be correct. but, IMHO, I highly doubt that this is any kind of the issue that some may think. PhantomChaos's boat is a 2001. Thats 10 YEARS ago. If this was an issue, throughout the entire line or on all boats, I would sure think that we would have heard something about it before now. 10 years is thousands of boats. So far one picture of a small section that is said to not have Plexus in it, and thats it.

I'm not trying to cast doubt on anyones claims here, but that is all any of us have seen, is one picture. I'd love to see the repair pics, or the no plexus pics, or anything that shows that this is an issue. This is a VERY serious allegation again a very respected builder, and as such, I'd like to see more than what has been produced so far.