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I was cleaning the tug the other day and noticrd this but cant figure out how it happened i havent hit anything or dropped it or anything like that so does anyone have any ideas how the glass cracked like this the transom is solid and doesnt move at all anybody else had this happen?

Red,

Did you apply tape to the outside edge before you did the fiberglass cloth? How did you do the inside?

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i ran fillets and tape on the inside but the outside is just one layer of glass but the corners do have a good bit of over lap from the the seperate peices i used for the bottom and transom and sides so at the least its two layers thick right there maybe i sanded too much!

hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like paint is on top of the crack (or whatever). That imperfection evidently was there before the paint.
Best I can tell from the pic.

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I see what your saying Ken but the crack wasnt there before i painted it it just showed up the other day the only thing i can think of that could have caused it would be a hard bounce on the trailor

Red - what a bummer.

As bad as it looks, I believe it will be an easy repair. But I sure would beef up the cloth.

dave

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I'm certainly no 'axpert' but zooming in it almost looks like I can see 'ghosting' of the fiberglass weave through the paint, could it be that it got sanded a bit too much and the fiberglass wasn't bonded perfectly to the transom, almost seems like a zig-zag patter at the break similar to the weave pattern in the fiberglass - just grasping at straws here - almost looks like the fiberglass pulled away from the transom, taking the paint with it. Sorry for your problem.

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well started fixing the tug i think what happened was i sanded a little to much before the paint went on and probably just about sanded through the glass its paper thin in that spot and i think one good bump coming down my drive way jarred it hard enough to crack the glass but it does apear to have a good bond to the wood i tried pulling on it and it wouldnt come off so thats good ill just sand her down build the corner between the transom and bottom back up feather it all out and respray, it shouldnt show up to bad when im done. let me know if this sounds like a good plan.

Red,

While you are at it why not sand away the cracked fiberglass and apply fiberglass tape as an extra safety measure.

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I think I am with "Chillin"....

But could you not see the "crack" from the inside as well??? I, myself, would intentionally stress the inside with some weight or something (a pole against the ceiling) whatever you can find to try to open up the crack.

If that cracked was caused by a rough ride and you think "the bottom dropped out"...you should try to replicate it. If you can get it to come apart even a little it will do two things: confirm your suspicion number one, and allow you to effect a better repair number two. You can shoot some epoxy in there. It is highly unlikely that if you epoxy glued that seam together that it actually cracked ON THAT SEAM. (With or without the glass it matters little) Having said that: putting a strip of glass tape back on certainly does not hurt. You can actually put a couple of layers on and feather it out (start thin and go thick for more strength).

Can you see the fillet on the inside? If you could I would stress it to find out what happened. You cannot cause any more damage than is already there, and you already know how to fix it!

Let us know how you make out please. It would be good for all of us to know whether or not there was a starved joint to begin with or what caused it.

Thanks
Steve

i did try to seperate the joint and see if the transom had moved or come loose but i could not get it move at all so i think its just the glass that has cracked i am planning on reglassing with tape and epoxy thats what i ment when i said feather it all back out i plan on using two to three layers each one alttle bigger than the last the first time i glassed it i just used one layer of 6 oz cloth but i did have an overlap at the transom but i probably sanded atleast one layer completly off atleast that is what im thinking happened anyway the joint doesnt seem to have come loose so hopefuly when im done it will be stronger and look better than before.

I looked at that crack and it is just about the most frightening thing I have ever seen. I am guessing that this is the stern of a stitch and glue boat? This looks like a stress crack that is either caused by a large force on the sole of the boat or perhaps a torque caused by the motor twisting the transom backward? In that case you might not see a single fracture on the inside but I would bet there are a lot of micro breaks in the glass. I would expect this is caused more from bouncing around on a trailer than from being in the water. However, the crack has odd properties that seem to indicate the fiberglass was pullled up and outward. I'm sure you can reglass it and it will be fine but if it were mine, and I could not determine the cause, I would glue and screw in a 1" square frame in there to fix it permanently.

Stuart

Stuart the glass was pulled away some i had already started to see what happened to it so i grabbed the glass and pulled on it to see if the bond had failed i have a one inch square piece of oak along the bottom that the bottom and the transom is glued and screwed to the joint between the two is solid as a rock thats what has me baffeled i cant see how anything moved around enough to cause the crack in the glass but i just got my compressor back up and running so tonite when it cools off a bit ill start sanding her down and get it fixed up

If too much epoxy is applied, while coating fiberglass, the glass can float away from the surface and cause a void. It won't be visable at first but a bump or vibration can cause the glass to crack. Just a guess but that's what it looks like to me. I agree with you, the fix should be pretty easy since you have verified the structural intregity of the area.

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