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Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:58 pm
by Hiramsaint
Thanks ddependo, that's the ad. It's a decent price until the welding part came up. No worries as I'm pretty stuck on a 32 FBS.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:02 pm
by Hiramsaint
Busia wrote:Sounds like someone's boat left at his shop and being sold for storage fees. Might be a deal at the right price.
Very well could be. I'd like to have the trailer. I expect mine--when I get it-- to be here at the ponderosa for awhile while I set it up. Being able to move it about during that time would be a huge plus.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:27 pm
by EWRice
The only time I have seen so called "stress cracks" in a metal hulled boat was when the hull was allowed to get substantial amount of water in it that froze solid over the winter. That was on a Roamer but I was amazed at how many welds were cracked. They decided to cut her up after that.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 9:31 pm
by javalin390
That sounds like the most likely story, although I was thinking that it was left in the lake during the winter, the opposite of forgetting to pull the drain plugs while in drydock and water freezing inside the hull.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:23 pm
by Rockit
I agree, it sounds like they mean there were defects in the original welds.

This is why a report from good marine surveyor who is familiar with aluminum boats is helpful. I remember mine going over the welds.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2019 1:44 pm
by bill
BigM
32' Fisherman with new rebuilt motors. :o From the pictures it does not look like there was a lot of welding going on. :o It would surely need a good Marinette surveyor to look at it first. :) If I was just 20 years younger and a billionaire. :idea:
bill

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 3:01 pm
by mrkstr
I have a 1968 32 foot Marinette Cruiser. I have found 5 small cracks below the water line in the last 4 years. The first one was somewhat large and the welder told me he thought it was probably just from a bad weld at the factory that came loose. We welded everything back together from the inside and outside. The other cracks have been much smaller, an inch or two long or shorter. One of the small ones has been all the way through the hull, but most have not.

I know the boat hasn't had any collisions with anything, including the bottom. It hasn't been left in the water over the winter, ever. There hasn't been water left in the bilge (unless it was a small amount caught in a spot I couldn't see.) I haven't noticed any sign of electrolysis, except on the anodes.

Am I just at the life expectancy of the boat? Do I scrap it or keep welding it? Can it be saved or is it going to keep getting worse?

mrkstr

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 3:32 pm
by jralbert
"Stress cracks" in Marinettes are rarely if ever reported. If it's a factory weld problem, one that held for +50 years, it's likely it would have shown up earlier. There could be a few scenarios here, impossible to figure out. If the new welds are holding, with no new cracking occurring you may have hit the solution. If you are getting new ones, under the water line, it doesn't appear to be a safe situation.

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 3:48 pm
by mrkstr
Joel,
The last owner only drove it to church and back. Seriously though, the last owner would criuse Presque Isle Bay a couple times a week. I have taken trips to Canada and up and down our side of the lake. I think the factory weld gave way because it was the first time the boat had been out on open water in a long time. I'm not entirely sure if the small cracks are new or if they have gone unnoticed until now. I suspect they are new. Could the hull have been weakening over time and is now cracking because I'm using her more? Can electricity in the water be weakening it? Or is it just age?

Re: Stress cracks ???

Posted: Wed May 29, 2019 4:55 pm
by jralbert
Though Lake Erie can be brutal w short choppy wave conditions, it's hard to imagine the boat got pounded so hard the welds cracked but anything is possible over decades of use. I am not enthusastic about the "first time on open water" theory. Can't possibly guess on electricity in the water - you'd have to confirm that. But I think - and this is wholly hypothetical - it is more likely corrosion than stress cracks. Is the paint bubbling anywhere around the leak points?
It boils down to the fact that it's unlikely judgments from a distance will help you.