Anyone else seeing a lot of stress cracks/crazing on ATX boats? Should I be alarmed?

[AmpleAardvark]

I demoed a used 2022 ATX 24 (~80 hrs) and when I looked it over I noticed that it has several areas of stress cracking/crazing of the gel coat that are making me nervous about moving forward with this boat. The dealer salesperson said that this is something they have seen more frequently on ATX & Tige boats over the last couple of years and it is hit or miss on which boats it shows up on. Cosmetically, it looks pretty bad in a few spots. Has anyone else seen this issue and has it caused any further issues or concerns?

The boat is in decent shape otherwise with no other visible signs of major damage.

Locations of the cracks:

• A bunch of cracks around the port side cup holder near the stern (this is the worst area that I noticed)
• Port Stern Cup Holder Stress Cracks.jpg
• Several cracks on the floor behind the driver's seat near the corner of one of the floor hatches
• Floor Stress Cracks.jpg
• Several cracks in two different areas above the rub rail and registration numbers on the port side of the bow
• Port Bow Stress Cracks First Area.jpg
• Port Bow Stress Cracks Second Area.jpg
• Potentially other areas that I didn't notice during my limited demo and walkaround...?

Thank you for any help you can provide!

[skidaddle]

Ooof, I'm not a fiberglass expert but that wouldn't make me feel great on a boat that new with so few hours. My '06 has some bubbling in one place but doesn't show any cracks like that.

ATX comes with a 5yr warranty that covers the second owner as well and the hull has a lifetime warranty. Here's how it's written:

LIFETIME HULL WARRANTY

ATX offers the only complete hull warranty in the industry. If you ever experience a structural hull failure or delamination at any time while you own your boat, ATX will stand behind it.

So with that warranty I'd feel a little less bad depending on how strongly they stand behind it. Maybe reach out to ATX corporate with the pics and get their take on it?

[AmpleAardvark]

Good point about the lifetime hull warranty. The lifetime hull warranty does make me feel better about the structural integrity of the hull. The warranty seems to specifically state that it doesn't cover stress crazing, which is what I am assuming they would call the cracks that I saw, but I suppose it can't hurt to ask. Thanks for the suggestion!

2023-08-31 09_47_36-TB-WO-05-2022-ATX-Owners-Manual.jpg

The dealer salesperson said that they may be able to lightly sand/grind some of the more visible cracks and apply some gel coat repair material to improve the appearance, but I don't know if that is a sure thing. Has anyone had experience with getting these types of cracks repaired for cosmetic purposes?

[ipm983]

Nope… those are crazy cracks!


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[bsreid]

There is a 1 year warranty on the gel coat. A good dealer would fix that no questions asked.

But it’s not a tige/atx issue. Every brand is having this problem. Gel repair is a good business to be in right now.

[AmpleAardvark]

Thanks for the additional perspective on other brands, bsreid. After some discussion the dealer agreed to have a fiberglass repair person repair those areas during the offseason, so hopefully we'll be picking up the boat this weekend!!

[mtman5294]

you're definitely not alone, my 2023 ATX 20-Type-S went into the shop for winterizing and a small bubble repair. Been there 3 months now, and they keep finding more bubbles and stress fractures along the keel of the boat... makes me super nervous...

[h2o-ski]

If you dig hard enough you will continue to find bubbles. Only a few high volume boat manufactures have developed a process to get nearly all the air out during the layup of the glass. While rebuilding my '81 Supra, I found nearly every fault you can make during the layup process and the hull was still rock solid. There are way more layers of glass in the ATX than in my Supra so you should be just fine from a structural prospective.

[kyrone]

The area you highlighted was clearly marked from collision or neglect. Not there warranty

[AmpleAardvark]

Closing the loop on this thread in case anyone looks back at it for reference. We purchased the boat in the fall and negotiated for repair of the stress cracks as part of the purchase. Over the winter, the dealer sent the boat to a place that specializes in fiberglass and paint work. (They actually sent it there twice because they weren't happy with the appearance the first time.)

The end result is that the repairs look amazing. Even knowing exactly where the repairs were done, I can't find any visible signs of the repair. The fiberglass place did phenomenal work. We have put about 20 hours on the boat this summer and there are no signs of the cracks returning. If any cracks reappear I'll edit this comment or add a new comment.

It appears that these types of issues can be repaired with an excellent result. I'm not sure how much it cost to have the repairs done, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. I don't know if the dealer tried to claim any of the fiberglass repair under warranty.

[Matt Garcia]

Closing the loop on this thread in case anyone looks back at it for reference. We purchased the boat in the fall and negotiated for repair of the stress cracks as part of the purchase. Over the winter, the dealer sent the boat to a place that specializes in fiberglass and paint work. (They actually sent it there twice because they weren't happy with the appearance the first time.)

The end result is that the repairs look amazing. Even knowing exactly where the repairs were done, I can't find any visible signs of the repair. The fiberglass place did phenomenal work. We have put about 20 hours on the boat this summer and there are no signs of the cracks returning. If any cracks reappear I'll edit this comment or add a new comment.

It appears that these types of issues can be repaired with an excellent result. I'm not sure how much it cost to have the repairs done, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. I don't know if the dealer tried to claim any of the fiberglass repair under warranty.

Thanks for the update, glad it worked out.

[Duneit]

Thanks for the update, that's good news!