Need some help here
 

Can anyone help me out here?
Here are the facts.
I had a small crack in my cabin liner, nothing too serious however it bothered the hell out of me. Last winter I had it repaired, and the glass guy said he would make it stronger. Shortly after getting back in the water the crack reappeared, again nothing major. I figured I'd run the rest of the season and fix it again this winter. I ran the boat what we would call hard exactly once on a small local poker run. It behaved flawlessly it felt like someone was placing it back into the water gently everytime we caught air. I hit ONE roller that was between two waves directly midships. Upon striking this the hatch that closes over the cabin door broke, the windshield broke and that little crack turned into a major fissure.
Fast forward to now , the glass guy who repaired it last season has discovered the bulkhead is cracked, and is claiming owner abuse. You know what that means.....
I've called the Sonic plant and spoke with a gentelman there who asked me to E-mail him some pics of the damage, so he could help me detirmine if the problem was caused by the first repair , which I belive was done incorrectly. I belive it was done incorrectly because the space between the bulkhead and the cabin liner was filled with glass and resin by the glass guy, which it seeems has driven the liner back and up as evidenced by the damage. I have not heard back in several weeks , after many e-mails and phone calls. So I turn to you my fellow OSOers. If anyone knows a back door into the Sonic plant or you can reccomend some one who can help me out in the northeast please help.....Spring is on its' way!
Thanks
Joe

Show us some pics.

Sorry here is one
Here you can see the yellow resin used to fill the formally open area.

Here is one from the cabin side looking out to the cockpit

Here is the hatch and the windshield
Notice how all the damage lines up from the point of the repair

Last one looking through the hand hole on port side, crack in bulkhead is to the lower right.

Call and talk to Richard or Bruce at the Sonic Factory, they are very helpful.

Are there any other glass shops in your area?

We have an EXCELLENT fiberglass repair place in our area. It's called Fast Forward and it's in Central NY, near Syracuse. You can call them at 315-676-3317 and ask for Scott or Matt and mention my name. They are sometimes there on Saturdays.

Right Brian, like anyone who doesn't know you could possibly pronounce your name! Fast Forward does excellent work and are honest.
I can't really tell what caused what from the pics, but I would recommend checking your stringers when its apart being fixed. Thats an awful lot of movement for a boat that isn't beat on.
It would be worth the drive to let Fast Forward fix it.

We had the same thing happen to another 31 in our area. Tried to short route to repair it and had the same result you did. Like everyone before me. CALL SONIC and discuss your displeasure with Richard. It is a very involved repair and if not done right will result in major damage --- more than you have now. Sonic does not want the "no structural failure" to be compromised

That damage definately looks structural. I had my fuel tanks replaced last summer and the glass guy was fantastic. The guy is independent but I hooked up with him through Falcon Marine in Hampton Bays Long Island. Falcon's # is 631-723-0794, ask for Jimmy and tell him the problem. Sean and Wes will agree this is a great place to go.

From Conn. it will be a pain in the ass to get their but I think it would be the right thing to do. You could take the ferry from New London, Im sure it won't be cheap, to Orient Pt, and Falcon is about 45 min from there. My house is about 10 Min. from Orient Pt. and would be happy to meet you there and take you the rest of the way. I need to check on the house anyway, haven't been there all winter.

Thanks PE,
I'm STILL waiting on a call from Sonic.( I know it's busy down there,but please Linda if you're still lurking around the site have someone give me a call THANK YOU!!! I'll be away until Monday the 22nd, after that call me 6am-10pm 860-883-6896.)
I would like to get someones opinion on what went wrong before anyone touches the boat again.
I belive, as most people who have seen the pics or who've heard the story ,that the damage was caused by a repair that was done improperly last winter.
I'll let you know if I'm going to take you up on that offer, as soon as I get some info from the factory.
Thanks to those who have responded on line and telephoned me on this issue.

Still waiting for Sonic to call
Just a few minutes on the phone is all I'm asking for.
(pics have been E-mailed twice)

I used to work in the performance marine industry, nobody ever returned phone calls (except me:D ). Keep calling them.

That boat is a three piece assembly. Looks like both the cabin liner and topdeck have been buggered. Hate to say it but that deck lid might need to come off to effect the right repair. Try Bruce at the factory he's a good guy.

Gee thanks Dano, now I'm sinking in to an even greater depression:mad:
The deck does not have any cracks in it, just the liner and the bulkhead. The windshield crack seems to have come from the flex created when the cabin liner moved back and up instead of flexing normaly, if it were not connected to the bulkhead.(I hope):(
I'll leave a message for Bruce on voice mail this weekend, MAYBE he will return the call.
This is getting very frustrating, call after call, e-mail after e-mail.....as much as I love my Sonic I'm about ready to say F-Sonic !:mad: I guess you've got to spend 300K to be heard.

Re: Need some help here
 

any updates on this issue ??? or resolve??

Re: Need some help here
 

Pending on your location in CT (I'm from South Windsor originally) a close friend of mine speciallizes in fiberglass and refurbishing. He has had a few performance boats come through his shop. Call him. Tom at Boat Works, South Windsor, CT on Sullivan Ave, 3 miles off of Rte 5. He does a lot of repairs for a number of marinas. He won't BS you and his work is garanteed.

Re: Need some help here
 

Update- Found an honest glass guy, who ironically does work for the yard that screwed up the first time, (wish they called him first). He is going to undo what was done, and repair the stress cracks around the dash with carbon fiber, after hunting around he found some of the tabbing had come loose on a stringer, and he is going to repair that as well. I stripped the interior and dash , glass work should begin next week, in the mean time I'm having the drives gone through (resealed, gears and shafts checked) and repainted. Engines are ready to go back in......and I'm going nuts!!! I can hear the boats on the river all weekend while I pace back and forth in my back yard.