I noticed a small crack in the grp moulding where the cabinn floor meets the under cockpit storage area. The crack closes up when afloat and opens up when the tide goes out and she lies on the sand.
The crack grew little last summer but then stabilized. In fact I was laying in the bunk one morning, half asleep after spending the night on board and as the tide went out I was aware of a cracking sound. I wondered what it was an on investigation found the crack!!!!. See pics attached. I sailed for the rest of the season no problems.
Has anyone else had this problem. There does seem to be evidence of a repair at some stage (possible at the factory, as I read on the forum that this was done on some swifts....mine's sail no 211)
Any advise greatly appreciated
Jim
worrying crack appeared
worrying crack appeared
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whiteede
- Making way
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:51 am
- Location: Christow Devon
- Boat Name: nuestro
worrying crack appeared
Following my purchase of my 1984 boat Nuestro I noticed a repair in the same area but only around the foot of the keel box. My boat drys out these days so I will have a look at it asap. I have not yet heard of it as a design problem though it is beginning to feel that way. sorry I dont have a picture as yet.
Philip
Philip
Thank Phillip, I have been talking to Mike (boatproject) who (having built a Swift from scratch and knows more about there construction than most) suggests I push a blade into the crack to see if there is anything behind the GRP....it may have a metal or wood core, or be hollow. I will do this on my next visit to Norfolk. Jim
Hi Jim
Seren had similar cracking to yours which I notice after I first acquired her 5 years ago (mine is no 208 just 3 boats before yours) mine was a little different in that the crack was in the stringer towards the port side of centre. I understand this may have happened at some stage when the boat was road transported without lowering the keel back down onto the trailer rollers. Apparently this was a bit of a design problem on some boats but, in my case, with my keel fully up it still rests on the roller. I don't know whether or not it did at one time and was later modified or the cracking was caused by some other means. I repaired it by removing all the gel coat off the stringer and roughing up the matting before pressure moulding about 6mm of new chopstrand, roving and gel over the lot. My stringer is now a bit bigger than before but I've had no trouble since.
By pressure moulding I did this by making a wooden mould which I pre-layed up and then, placing it over the stringer, I put a car jack between it and the underside of cockpit floor. I then pinched the mould tight with 'G' clamps squeezing as much air and surplus resin out to make it really dense.
Terry
Seren had similar cracking to yours which I notice after I first acquired her 5 years ago (mine is no 208 just 3 boats before yours) mine was a little different in that the crack was in the stringer towards the port side of centre. I understand this may have happened at some stage when the boat was road transported without lowering the keel back down onto the trailer rollers. Apparently this was a bit of a design problem on some boats but, in my case, with my keel fully up it still rests on the roller. I don't know whether or not it did at one time and was later modified or the cracking was caused by some other means. I repaired it by removing all the gel coat off the stringer and roughing up the matting before pressure moulding about 6mm of new chopstrand, roving and gel over the lot. My stringer is now a bit bigger than before but I've had no trouble since.
By pressure moulding I did this by making a wooden mould which I pre-layed up and then, placing it over the stringer, I put a car jack between it and the underside of cockpit floor. I then pinched the mould tight with 'G' clamps squeezing as much air and surplus resin out to make it really dense.
Terry