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Cracks in various 90-94 Viking and Post Questions

Discussion in 'General Sportfish Discussion' started by Eddieclemons, Mar 4, 2021.

  1. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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    After unsuccessfully finding a suitable 50ish Hatteras, I spent some time this week looking at several 90-94 Viking and Posts. All had hairline cracking in various areas. On the post it was infrequent out on the open bow and pretty frequent coming off hatches. Can these allow moisture in? Do they require repairs? How are they repaired? I have been unable to update photos but I will work on that asap. Thanks
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    It all depends. Most all that I've seen aren't deep enough to allow moisture in. But I did see a couple that would be suspect.
  3. gr8trn

    gr8trn Senior Member

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    Water ingress is a possibility as @Capt J may or may not agree with.
    They can be fixed.
    DIY is possible.
    Shipwrights are recommended if you want professional experience with proper facilities, tools
    for the job in which case you are in for serious labor hour dollars.
    It depends on your goals.
    You could survey the areas for water intrusion with tapping and or moisture testing.
    Having said all that they are rarely a deal breaker, but should be taken into account.
    I don’t like them unattended, but bazillions of boats float around quite happily with them.
  4. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    +1.
    I have a funny feeling that by the time that kind of moisture ingress (if any) can become a real problem, it's time to scrap the whole boat anyway, and for many other much more crucial reasons!
  5. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    You're dealing with 30 y.o. boat, and there was a lot of learning and experimenting going on around that time. So not unusual, especially in stress points like hinges and corners. Are we talking about cracking in the gelcoat, in the fiberglass under the gelcoat, through them both or just crazing? It's all fixable and a lot of it DIY depending on your skill set and desire, For small repairs where an exact color match isn't critical you could even use Quick Fix. Good stuff to keep a tube of around. Test for retained moisture and soft spots. Those repairs will get deep and expensive. Closer to the surface it's just part of maintaining a boat.
  6. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Not necessarily. Older Carvers are known for rot around stanchions near the boarding areas where water collect. Someone posted several years ago about cutting out and replacing a pretty good sized area several years ago.
  7. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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  8. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    #3 looks the most serious. The other two NBD. But put a moisture meter to them and push on the deck to see if there's any delam or sponginess. If not that' a DIY project, again depending on your skill set and desire.
    Kenny K likes this.
  9. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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    PXL_20210304_141714849~2.jpg PXL_20210304_141724113~2.jpg original_385e839f-768b-4037-969b-f4c7f763f1e9_PXL_20210304_145539872.jpg
  10. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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    Thanks for the reply's so far.
  11. chesapeake46

    chesapeake46 Senior Member

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    If you walk on the affected area, how does it feel ?
  12. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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    The areas are solid for sure.
  13. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Just get a $40 Ryobi moisture meter at Home Depot. They work well for things like that and easy to use. I've never heard of water intrusion issues on the vikings or posts that had this issue in those years, but it's not impossible.

    NYCAP- this was a bad brand of gel coat that was used by Post/Viking and a few others and around late 90's to early 2000s.
  14. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Even earlier. I remember. My first fiberglass boat was a 1950 which we got in 1956. Lots of experimentation since then trying to build strength and lessen weight and amount of material. I don't think this was involved with that batch you refer to but same thing. There was a lot of trial and error during the late 80's / early 90's and beyond.
    That the areas feel solid probably means an easy fix but as J says put a moisture meter on it anyway just to be sure (and go over the hull while you're at it). Do your best to keep weather off it till you make the repair. In fact I'd say open the cracks up a little a do the repair with Quick Fix. Maybe that'll be all you need, but it won't make a professional repair any harder and it'll keep the moisture out till you get to it.
  15. C team

    C team Senior Member

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    The gel coat in question was the 953 Series from CCP used between 1997 and 2002. Viking stopped using all CCP gel coat in 2004.
  16. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    And the OP said he's looking at '90 to '94. Long before that.
  17. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Stress cracks in the gel coat are pretty common across brands and eras. These look like typical gelcoat cracks to me especially if the area feels solid

    the hardest part is to match the gelcoat. Some guys are really good at it, others not so much. Sometimes a repair looks good but then a couple of years later it ages badly.
  18. Eddieclemons

    Eddieclemons Member

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    PXL_20210304_171538541_50.jpg The pics are from a 1990 Post. I do have pics from a couple of Vikings, 90-94. The viking pics are all more like spider webs.
  19. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    There you go. And like Pascal pointed out even if you get a good repair it will probably become evident after it ages a couple years. That's why most boats are less concerned with the gelcoat matching and paint over. So if the fiberglass underneath is good and it's not delaminating do the cheapest but smoothest repair you can with the closest color match you can and plan on a paint job. The funniest thing I find is that one of the biggest things that sold people on fiberglass over wood was that it would end all that painting, but soon enough fiberglass boats were being painted and requiring more expensive and finicky paints.
  20. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Nobody is going to repaint a boat because of a few gelcoat cracks here and there. You get a good guy to repair it and it will last. I ve had a few chips and things repaired on the boat i run 4 years ago and I can’t tell where they were. My guy took a small door to a place on FTL who perfectly matched the gelcoat.

    If anything it s probably easier that blending in Awlgrip or Imron.

    You just need a qualified guy. Or Gal... or Undetermined.