glassdave

iTrader: (1)

finally getting some pics sorted out, bad habit of using my cell for pics because of convenience but beecause its an old flip phone i have to bluetooth them to my tablet them tether to my home PC then put on usb stick to take to shop lol


wayyyy back on page one there was some pics up the liner during initial assessment, nearly identical to Jons above. Heres what we found and what was done to correct it. . . ..



Whole liner had to be cut into small pieces and literally each piece pried out. This is done because some areas the Plexus is still well bonded and you do not want to damage the parent hull laminate.

The Lancelot wheel of death (as i like to call it lol)
the green thing is a 12V chainsaw sharpener as this thing needs sharpening every few minutes of use.

Plexus is very tough to remove a grinder is useless and the material needs to be shaved or milled in some way. I found the Lancelot did well as did a cheap Skil hand planer. Any way you approach it . . . . its a pain lol. Get comfy with some headphones, gonna be in there a while lol.

You can see in the one pic how thick and porous it is, keep in mind this stuff is for a bond not a filler. They just spooged it in without regard . . . . I cant believe how nice the rest of the boat is put together but how poorly this part of it is

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

getting to the bottom of it, through all the Plexus we found the actual bottom of the boat. The skin laminate of the hull was so thin i am sure if i tried i think i could actually kick a hole in it right exactly under where the motors sit . . . .


after all the Plexus is gone we ground and leveled the surface glass in prep a core and new superstructure.
Everything gets prepped to 36 grit, best possible bond.

The strakes needed to be filled to make the new core uniform and level. Strakes were filled and the leveled then laminated over. You can see in the one pic there is a small square of fiberglass cloth with just the edge wetted and bonded. I do this to test my new bond to the old surface. There was Plexus smeared all over and even though its all been removed i always like to test to make sure there is no residual left over. Its a simple test but tells me a lot . . .

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

ok, THIS is how much Plexus actually gets removed

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

the parent hull surface gets three layers below the core. One layer of 1708 45/45, one layer of 1808 0/90 and one more layer of 1708 45/45. This gives me a very comprehensive quad orientation of fabric.

Setting new core throughout and three more layers of the above schedule (1708 ,1808, 1708).

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

new stringer (where the hollow busted up old ones were). The new liner is a hybrid that ties good sections of the old perimeter it with a new grid. The short ones are secondary stringers to support the running surface, mine key in at the front back and were fully encapsulated.

The floppy lookin white stuff is peel ply. I put that on as a last laminate to get it a nice uniform finish. Its a bit of a pain because it does not like non flat surfaces but its worth the effort. It has a release agent in it and it got pulled out after cure leaving a nice final surface needing little more then gelcoat to finish it off . . .

i will put more up this week as i get them sorted, its late lol . . . .

Audiofn

Wow Dave I pray to god I don't have to go that far!

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

is it overbuilt? . . . i dont understand the question . . . . . . . .

Hate to say it Jon but i dont see any other way to deal with it and achieve all the goals. If you do not expose the entire sole of the bilge you will have miltiple sections of unsupported (thin) running surface . . . .

Audiofn

I am praying that I do not have to remove all that stuff. Based on our phone conversations I am not optimistic but time will tell if I can come up with something...

badmonkey

not trying to stir the $hit,but has Formula reached out to anybody thats having issues? (Question asked by boatnt)


Below is the response I just received from Scott Smith at Formula....Certainly not what I ever would had thought...Very disappointing. Frankly they have slid this under the rug. Screw opening "Pandora's box"...they are blowing the fact they made a mistake at manufacturing off and will not stand behind it. This has nothing to do with warranty as far as I am concerned. this has everything to do with standing behind mistakes....NOT HAPPY !!!!


Good morning, Chris,

I did forward your pictures to the other people on my end, and nothing has changed. The age of the boat precludes any sort of warranty coverage. The best we could have done is have you deliver the boat to us at your expense and charged you to do the work that Glass Dave is currently doing to the boat. I will let my supervisor know that you have sent another inquiry, but honestly, I do not see another way forward at this point. The boat is now 17 years old and the reality is that we cannot cover boats indefinitely. The boat long outlasted its then-five year structural warranty, and wear and tear will eventually affect most any product.

I’m sure this is not what you wanted to hear this morning, but this is where it stands. I wish you the best with your project and I will be happy to provide you with advice or information in any other regard for the boat.

Best regards,

Scott Smith

Formula Support

distantthunder

Definitely not the customer support that I would expect from Formula, I have made a career in the high pressure air compressor industry and I am very judgmental on customer service that other industries offer based on my experience in the after sales world. I agree with you that warranty has nothing to do with a manufacturing oversight and should be handled different from Formula. The fact that you purchased a Formula for the reputation of high quality and long lasting hulls should be enough for them to provide your case with more attention than brushing it off as an issue that is outside of the original factory "structural" warranty. Wear and tear has no effect on the obvious absence of proper hull construction/adhesion that was discovered during Glass Dave's repair. I am disappointed in hearing their response and I hope you can work towards a full resolution with them. The noisy wheel gets the grease in my opinion and I think you should still pursue restitution for your trouble. On a side note, that is some extremely sexy glass work and I look forward to seeing the finished product this summer!