LapseofReason

They fixed mine for free and told me in the same breath that it wont last. It hasn't got any worse so I don't care but when I go to sell it I will touch it up some. I have had mine in some big chit where I was wondering if In was going to see my kids again and it stays the same so don't sweat it. My buddy who works for NASA was at Sonic with me when I was there and told Jay Ross that if he put a 45deg. angle on it, it should be fine. Jay said it would be to much to change the mold.

h2owarrior

Even with a 45 it will crack. The problem is not the angle it's the fact that there is a sharp corner. If you change it to a 45 you will up with two potential crack points. What you need is a larg smooth radius. Any corner generates a stress riser and is more susceptible to a crack than a generous radius.

If you ever get a chance, take a look at the 38 PowerPlay and how Dan dealt with all the "corners" on the boat you will see what I mean. A couple of additional examples include Formula and Cobalt. Very large radii to manage the stress. No riser......no crack.

Part of the issue is the actual engineering (or lack of) that goes into most boats. They spend a lot of time on the hull, mainly through experience, and very little time (structurally) on the deck. It is built to look the way they want it to. Those that have an engineering staff and / or a lot of experience will pay attention to these details.

Sonic, when I was there, had Jay Ross and that was it. No engineering dept. etc. What I saw was Jay spent a lot of money developing the "liner" and not so much in the crack resistance of the boat. It has a lot of very sharp corners all over the boat. I really like the boat by the way.

So, if you have a crack it most likely originates in a corner and propagates from there. You can minimize it by replacing the sharp corner with a generous radius. But if the boat itself has a lot of flex, you are going to have cracks.

heat wave

I looked at 2 used 386 sonics both 2002's.They both had cracks around the cabin doors and the dash had cracks all over it.Where the throttles came through the dash there were cracks.These were both lake boats,one from N.C. and the other from GA. I think ill keep my Fountain,Sonic's have too many issues for my.

Love Machine

If it was a crack in the hull I'd be worried. It's not, so like dyno said "don't sweat it"

Love Machine

heat wave. Is your real name Reggie Fountain?

Nice first post. I'll be sure to hinge all my future boat buying on your crack marine insight!

heat wave

Iam no fan of Reggie but when Iam going to spend 200K on a toy i do my home work.I love the head room in a Sonic but that's about all I can say for the boat.I been to the boat shows been to the plant,looked at new and used.I wish you all the best of luck wth yours but I think if I got one it would be a older one.I think the older one were built much better,once again guys that is just me talking.BRING JAY BACK!!!!!!!

BRET

I don't to get into an argument, as I love Sonics but, I almost bought a '98 35 last summer until I got pictures of the crack in the liner to the left of the door at the bottom. It started in the cockpit and went thru to the cabin. Pretty wide too. The dealer said it hasn't got any bigger, but for the price I said no thanks. The previous owner had to have the door frame welded because of the crack. I wound up with a 33 outlaw. Just my .02.

offshore score

Fountian, do not have cracks around a cabin door because they do not have cabins the have cuddies

GO4BROKE

iTrader: (1)

heat wave

As we all know opinions are like a s s holes we all have one.I was a Fountain man but I have found that there is a lot more out there than a Fountain.I looked at my options,all of them and decided that Sonic was also not for me.Sorry if you all don't like my opinion but you all just need to go look at one.There like a women you pick up in a bar after midnight and wake up to someone in the morning and say OH MY GOD all cosmetic.Hey guys I love Formula's good win.