Gelcoat damage - impact or not?

[bheston]

Hello,

I'm looking to purchase a 2006 Chaparral Signature 276 but it has some gelcoat damage. The dealer indicated it was not from an impact. They said it is just cosmetic. I'm not certain so I thought I would post here to see if there are any opinions. What I don't know is if this make/model is prone to gelcoat failure or if this is just normal wear. I've repaired gelcoat before but not quite this large (multiple areas). Dealer estimated $5,000 to repair to be perfect. Here are the pictures. Looking for opinions - easy fix or look for a different boat?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EK...ZXvNUvJ0cDpmIM

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zC...uLfR3eMhpSp5Kr

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_n...d4TEhZgnN3Tup-

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XQ...jOMdTe2WPm9HOO

[Sailmonkey]

That screams poor adhesion to me!

It looks like a number of different failure modes from voids to flexing. It’s nothing other than cosmetic (maybe indicates too thin of a layup around d the hatch hinges).

[billknny]

I would say it was not impact damage, primarily based on its location.

Based only on pictures is tough, but some combination of gelcoat too thick, structure too flexible, and poor bonds between layers during construction. Maybe all of the above.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by billknny

I would say it was not impact damage, primarily based on its location.

Based only on pictures is tough, but some combination of gelcoat too thick, structure too flexible, and poor bonds between layers during construction. Maybe all of the above.

Exactly! ✓

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, bheston.

Originally Posted by billknny

I would say it was not impact damage, primarily based on its location.

Based only on pictures is tough, but some combination of gelcoat too thick, structure too flexible, and poor bonds between layers during construction. Maybe all of the above.

Exactly! ✓

[jimbunyard]

Just cosmetic, not structural, let's just give a broad reason; "poor construction techniques (Monday or Friday syndrome?) and quality control". There are likely other areas that will make themselves known, especially if you're fond of pressure washers.

If you like the boat, and the price isn't 'inflated to cover' when you ask for a 5000.00 price reduction to do the repair, and the seller agrees, go for it

[Stewie12]

I would walk away from that one as there is probably more of the same problem.

[dennismenace111]

Run, dont walk away from this boat...poor gelcoat to glass adhesion problems are probably all over this boat in alot of places you cant see. Some places it might just have been applied too thick or too thin... others its obviously bad adhesion.. its not worth the headache.

[Cadence]

From pics it is a wild ass guess. Get an independent survey.

[Exctyengr]

It looks to me like a significant manufacturing defect - poor adhesion of gel coat to glass underlayment. Possibly some contamination causing the delamination. Just a swag at this point but since the boat was manufactured in 05 or 06, over the ensuing 15 years or so, my guess is that most of the delamination has occurred. Personally, I probably would not buy this boat, but if you have thisboatfever syndrome, then do a survey and negotiate a significant price reduction. (I doubt that it can be repaired so that you can't see the repair unless the whole boat is painted/re-gel coated).

[boatpoker]

Looks like very poor quality control on the application of the skinou mat to the gelcoat in the mold in which case purely cosmetic however ..... if they were this shoddy with the skinout mat how shoddy is the underlying structural laminate ?

You could spend 5k fixing it and find another 5k per yr as the flaws pop up elsewhere.

[bheston]

Thanks for the advice. This boat is equipped with almost all my must-haves. However, at $35K asking price, this seems like too much risk for me to take. I'm going to walk away from this one.