Cracks in cabin

[D-Ray]

Hello everyone,

I bought an Ericson 28 over the winter and it's my first sailboat (first boat of any kind). As I was cleaning it out and getting a sense of what it has and needs I noticed these cracks.

Obviously a crack in anything is never good but what should I know about these? Can they be fixed?





Thanks in advance for all your advice and assistance.

David

 

[peaman]

I wonder if you can get a good photo of the underside of that same area. You might need to remove the headliner, but I'd want to see the area where the bolts come through for both the winch and the cleat. I would also be looking for any other signs of overload at boom, mast, gooseneck and chainplates where the shrouds attach.

 

[D-Ray]

I wonder if you can get a good photo of the underside of that same area. You might need to remove the headliner, but I'd want to see the area where the bolts come through for both the winch and the cleat. I would also be looking for any other signs of overload at boom, mast, gooseneck and chainplates where the shrouds attach.

I cut away the foam to see the fiberglass. It doesn't look damaged

 

[Pete the Cat]

I am seeing just chopped strand, fiberglass here. Does anybody with a similar boat know if there is any structural fiberglass layer under those winches? also, is this the main sheet winch? these cracks don't look like the normal crazing of gelcoat. they look like stress cracks from an overload on the substrate. I would be inclined to remove the winch and cleat drill and fill and re-bed at a minimum after careful inspection to see if there are cracks generated from the holes. do you know if this boat had some kind of accident or dismasting? I doubt if the winch or cleat are going to come flying out but if it's opened up a crack below the gel coat things are just gonna get worse. I would probably want to grind back one of the cracks above to see how deep it goes. for safety reasons.

 

[peaman]

I am seeing just chopped strand, fiberglass here. Does anybody with a similar boat know if there is any structural fiberglass layer under those winches? also, is this the main sheet winch? these cracks don't look like the normal crazing of gelcoat.....

This is exactly what I was thinking. Several of the bolt ends are very rusted, suggesting that there has been water intrusion. It occurs to me that if the bedding failed, and leakage started years ago, leading to rot of the (probable) plywood core, then much of the structural integrity of the glass-wood-glass sandwich would have been lost, in which case much less stress would be needed to cause the cracking. I recently replaced all of the gear in this area on my 1987 boat and it was all plywood cored glass.

Might need to 1) remove all gear, 2) remove fiberglass on interior to expose the plywood core, 3) reinforce top layer of fiberglass with fabric applied underneath, 4) replace soft plywood with new, 5) fill and fair cracks on top surface.

Start with step 1) and probe for soft wood or other issues.

 

[D-Ray]

Thanks guys! I'll dig into this next weekend. I'll update with some pics as I go.

 

[Christian Williams]

Don't let it stop you from going sailing on your new boat.

 

[D-Ray]

Don't let it stop you from going sailing on your new boat.

I won't! Thank you Christian.

 

[Loren Beach]

One note about the material used for coring on the cabin top. Our '88 model has plywood coring under: cockpit sole, combings where winches would be mounted, and under the bridge deck where the traveler was bolted down. Cabin top is all balsa coring, except one smaller part around the mast penetration that was plywood cored.
Of course the core and layup schedule probably varied by model, too.