In a predicament with my Gel Coat

[gman]

SPBFAN
I very much agree with you. The last one I had was in serious waters several times. All it takes is a little extra work to do the job right. I had snaps and you are right, they were done right. No cracks around them. Tow boats can be in rough waters also and manufacturers should take the time to do it right.

[loudelectronics]

I had my boat assessed today by a specialist. This was for a separate issue but he looked at the cracks and said that they were caused by the rivets in the boat. This is the latest so far.

[gman]

Thanks for keeping us up to date.

[loudelectronics]

Whats your guys take on rivets causing it as they were done by tige? What approach should I take? Not saying definitively that it is the rivets but this guy is a gel coat specialist and does appraisals for insurance companies.

[TriValleyMarine]

Rivets

He has seen your boat and I haven't, but it looked much more significant than cracks from rivets or screws. If it was from that, I would think you would only see small 2-3" cracks. From your pics it looked like the whole side was fractured. It almost looks like someone beat the heck out of that boat doing a bunch of double ups.

[da.bell]

Whats your guys take on rivets causing it as they were done by tige? What approach should I take? Not saying definitively that it is the rivets but this guy is a gel coat specialist and does appraisals for insurance companies.

I have a huge crack in my RZ2 from the SS rub rails. The crack is 10 inches in length but Tige is aware of the issue and have agreed to fix the problem. Going to be done in the off season.

Interesting that the rivets caused the issue.

[da.bell]

He has seen your boat and I haven't, but it looked much more significant than cracks from rivets or screws. If it was from that, I would think you would only see small 2-3" cracks. From your pics it looked like the whole side was fractured. It almost looks like someone beat the heck out of that boat doing a bunch of double ups.

Tri, not necessarily. I have a 10 inch crack from a rub rail screw. Can talk pictures if you would like.

[loudelectronics]

He has seen your boat and I haven't, but it looked much more significant than cracks from rivets or screws. If it was from that, I would think you would only see small 2-3" cracks. From your pics it looked like the whole side was fractured. It almost looks like someone beat the heck out of that boat doing a bunch of double ups.

I would think the same however they had another boat on the lot that had the same type of cracks that resulted in rivets being the cause. My boat is sitting right next to it.

How would double ups crack the gel? I thought Tige prided them selves in the rough water ability of these boats?

[jwanck11]

yeah... based upon the location of the cracks, it seems that it could be the rivets. Even the best at any craft learns by making mistakes.

[gman]

loudelectronics
I just looked up the date on start of this thread. Its been almost 5mo since you posted your issue. You have a lot of patience. In my opinion this is taking way to long to resolve.

[TriValleyMarine]

cracks

From when I looked at your pics a few months back, IMO, it looked like fractures all the way into the logo. But, you and the service guy has seen them in person so you would know best. Maybe you could re-post that one pic that shows the side of your boat with the logo. I don't recall, is it on both side at the same area? Bell: typically they would be smaller cracks. They can be longer like yours.

[da.bell]

From when I looked at your pics a few months back, IMO, it looked like fractures all the way into the logo. But, you and the service guy has seen them in person so you would know best. Maybe you could re-post that one pic that shows the side of your boat with the logo. I don't recall, is it on both side at the same area? Bell: typically they would be smaller cracks. They can be longer like yours.

Agreed, I don't think mine is a typical crack but it does happen.

[loudelectronics]

loudelectronics
I just looked up the date on start of this thread. Its been almost 5mo since you posted your issue. You have a lot of patience. In my opinion this is taking way to long to resolve.

I will start being impatient in September when Winnipeg Water Sports does not have a plan in place to fix my boat. Right now I can use my boat. They forgot to sell me the warranty transfer for 100 bucks. There fault, they can take care of it. It is not Tiges deal. They have been trying to get me to sign a waiver in there pursuit to sue Tige in fixing the boat. I will not sign it. I signed an agreement to overpay for my boat under the agreement that WWS would regell my boat.

[loudelectronics]

Oh, and my taps guage that they were supposed to fix last year they got one sent to me last week (which is the wrong one) and then sent me a bill for it. LOL. Pretty bold.

[talltigeguy]

Notice how the cracks appear to be exactly 5 inches or so apart.



One easy way to check that out is you can easily remove the rubber portion of the rubrail and I think that would expose the screw heads that hold the rubrail in place. Go to the back of the boat and remove the silver piece that is attached to the rubrail, then you can just peel that rubber back pretty easily. It can then also be just put back in place. I bet you will find that the vast majority of those cracks begin right where a screw is at.

It looks to me like they did not drill pilot holes that were big enough, so with a tiny stress on the screw the gelcoat started cracking.