Hull shaking 1999 47 Lightning
 

Hi everybody,

when running about 50 mph in 2-3 ft sea, have anyone looked into the cabin? On one boat I service, the kitchen console shakes like hell, and it also falls apart.. the fridge and the stove and everything is beaten up really bad... I wonder, is it only this boat or is it others too?

When looking into the little locker inside the head room (WC), there is a crack in the fiberglass where the wall that separates the cabin from the head. This is about the same place (exept it is the other side of the boat) as the kitchen... Except for this, the boat does not have fiberglass cracks. Only several thin cracks in the gel around the windshield where it is mounted to the boat.

I know the boats got better and better, but is it normal for a 1998 boat? This boat has been driven very hard in norwegian waters (swells) by its owners.

QUESTION NO 2: Has anybody fixed this problem by adding structures that stiffen the boat up? The deck also shakes a bit when you run the boat.. It does not give the best first impression, and I want to fix it and make it rock solid!

THANkS!!!!!

Something is wrong. You need to check your props? My '97 runs very smooth. I can hit waves on occaison which open the locked fridge which has led me to rig up a bungee cord to hold it tight. Still no vibration type stuff. You better get that under control or some other probelems will certainly occur. Maybe some others can help you further? Good luck!

How is it on calm waters?

Thanks!

The boat shakes in smooth water too. It is not the shfts/props. It is no vibrations like that. It is the hull itself, you can see the console is moving as it is mounted right onto the stringer. I have never experienced this on any other Fountain boat. But I have not driven too many 47s.. I ran a 2001 MY boat one time, and that felt more rigid.

What can be done to solve the problem? I am considdering to mount something between the stringer (to absorb the forces of the bottom) and up to the deck. I am sure the boat would feel more "compact" in rough waters, but how can i do this and still let the cabin look good and be easy to access everywhere...?

what kind of shape are the stringers etc. in?? If the boats shaking, wobbling, flexing and cracking.. it's probably all wet or someone ran it like an apache for a long time.

Well, it has been drivern hard in some periods of its life, but I have spoken to guys who ran this boat when new, and they told me you could feel the boat flex back then too.. The shape of the stringes are difficult to determine unless I drill them sand see if there is water there. But they are not a sandwich construction, are they??? I believe they are solid glass?