Chip in Gelcoat...Already!!!

[Larry Harp]

I was just out cleaning some bug splatters from the trip home last night and much to my horror there is a chip... no more of a chunk about 3/8" X 1" in my gel-coat located right on the upper strake. It looks to me like there is a void underneath the gel-coat and some of it has chipped away. I didn't do it but it looks like I could chip some more away with my fingernail. I'm sure I didn't hit anything while running at speed. There is no dramatic looking scrapes or scratches anywhere near the spot. I could have bumped a tree branch or stump while fishing on the TM but it is a bass boat after all.....how fragile are the glass boats after all???



So what is my next step?? Should I contact the dealer (BPS) or will they just claim it's impact damage and ship me off to my insurance company? If I have to pay for this out of pocket how $$ much am I looking at?



I took some pictures but for some reason I can't get online on the desktop where the pictures are located. It looks like an orange spot on a black hull.



This makes me sick... my new 591 has only been in the water 4 or 5 times.







Harpo

 

[BJ Laster]

If it was an 'air void' take the boat in. It has a 1 year cosmetic warranty. They'll take the boat to Superior Fiberglass. Robin is absolutely awesome over there. He's the guy that fixed my boat this past summer when i hit the hull of my boat on the rocks. Took it to him on monday after the tourny and had it back on thursday for the Bassmaster Series the next weekend!!!

 

[Larry Harp]

AIR VOID !! That describes what it looks like perfectly. The orange color under the chip looks like finished fiberglass with a thin layer of black get-coat over it. Is this a common problem? How can I find any other potential problems? So I need to contact Jeff and have him look at it I guess.



BJ, are you working tomorrow? I'm having a problem with a reel I need your help with.



Harpo

 

[BJ Laster]

I will be up there 2 to 10.



The shop is closed tomorrow but service is open. Jeff or Lonnie should be up there and you can grab one of them and talk to them about it. Also they got a new manager in this past week. If jeff or lonnie isnt there I'll take you up to Tyler the new manager.



You have a couple of options if they say that its not under the cosmetic warranty. You can fix it yourself with a gelcoat repair kit. You can also take it to Superior Fiberglass. Like I said Robin is awesome and it probably wouldnt cost you an arm and a leg. He did the keel of my boat which was about..five or six 5" to 7" by 2" to 3" wide scrapes for 500.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I don't know anything about gel-coat Harpo but Man, I'm sorry this has happened to your brand new boat. That would kill me! I'm sure everything will be ok..



Uncle Billy

 

[Bill McElroy]

Take it back to the dealer...all of the Z9's have been recalled already due to structural problems...KVD had a chunk come out of his hull in the California Delta this past week...Dewey Kendrick had to run a spare boat out to him!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Mac, KVD said he hit somthing....has that changed?



TOXIC

 

[Larry Harp]

Talked to the service manager (I had to go by the store. SM has never returned a phone call to me.) and he said it sounded like an air void and all I needed to do was to bring it in, he would take a picture and e-mail it to claims, and then it would be sent off to the fiberglass guys.



Here we go....I sure hope Tracker Marine has changed their customer service ways like they say they have.:unsure:



Harpo

 

[Marty Klein]

I'm not sure what a air void chipout looks likes, but what it sounds like is a road chipout. Just like a thrown object, lots of time stray gravel bits, can chip a windshield that object can chip your gelcoat--and you never know it occurred.



I'm not sure why we would expect Tracker Marine to foot the bill for those, whether a day after pickup, one year, or longer.



I'll bet if Tracker checked their records on air void warranty repairs, most of them occurred on the front facing parts of the hull.

 

[Larry Harp]

Marty, if you saw this you would see right away that there is no impact damage at all. It's basically a bubble in the hull that was covered over by the gel-coat. Picture a hard boiled egg...when you peel it there is a place in one end where there was air in the egg when it was cooked that forms a hollow spot under the shell. It's the spot that if you crack it first it makes peeling the egg a lot easier. That's the way my hull looks...like the shell of the gel-coat is covering an area where the fiberglass didn't get pushed down into the mold real good. There's no dent or contusion indicating any impact damage what so ever.



I assure you that if I had any idea that this was something caused by normal wear & tear or striking something on the water or something thrown up off the road I would be calling my insurance company not Tracker. The service manager knew immediately what the problem was as soon as I described it. This is obviously a defect in the hull and that's why I "expect Tracker to foot the bill". Frankly I think you ought to know what you're talking about before you accuse people of making fraudulant warranty claims.



Harpo

 

[Mark Gross]

Just a note here but Gorilla glue now makes a Gorilla tape ! I haven't bought any yet but plan on trying it.



Mark