Cracks at drain plug
 

Any of you guys with the older Sonics have any stress cracks coming from the drain? The owner described them as 2 stress cracks coming from the drain plug.

I have some spider cracks above the rub-rail but none at all below. I would be very careful with cracks below the rail espically that low in the boat.

My brother has my old prowler and it is covered in stress cracks. He cusses me about everytime we go out. Sonic told me tuff s$#t. Seems to be a problem with sonic but never had any cracks besides the top deck.

That's because it's a 2003 when they started the Vacuum Bagging/Infusion process. The first few boats were a "learning curve" shall we say. This was during Sonic's darkest years; between Jay Ross ownership and current CSI ownership. Richard Hewitt damn near destroyed & ran Sonic into the dirt.

If they had a known problem then it should be taken care of by the current owner. It doesn't look good when your tied up and everyone that looks at your boat asks what he hell is wrong with it. Not a good way for people to rember what a Sonic boat looks like. Besides the sh%$y looking top deck i really liked the boat. The way that they handled the problem i just dont know if i would ever by another one. By the way they never did tell me how it needs to be fixed. How would they fix this problem?

So Sydwayz what would the reason be for gelcoat cracks around the drain plug and would you worry about it?

03 Sonic. Stress cracks on the top are just that the gel was sprayed to thick and does not have any flexabilty due to it's thichness. In the eariler years starting in 2002 only the lower hull was vaccumed, not the insert or the top part they were to vaccumed later when the process was perfected. I had a 31SS with no problems in the lower hull. Jim Diesel owns it now and loves the boat. It was built in 2002 but because of the new process it carried a 2003 serial number. Trust me I still have the bill of sale.

Bigboat28, I would be VERY cautious about a boat with cracks around the drain plug. I wonder about a loose or broken stringer at the transom, delaminating transom. NOT a typical sonic problem. These hulls are built very strong. If it's a boat your looking to buy, I would look elsewhere.

I just talked to the owner about his boat and ask him about the cracks or stress cracks as he describes them at the bulge plug. He says they have been there since he bought the boat in 97. He said he had a friend that built Switzer boats and he said those stress cracks were nothing to worry about. How does that sound to you guys, good, bad?

Switzers are famous for the bottem falling off. I suppose they would consider it normal. Even if they are just cosmetic and only in the gel coat, if they have been there for 12+ years letting water into the transom, then it probably needs a new transom.