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switzer87
07-14-2003, 02:23 PM
ok i have a 87 ski 175 switzer with a 225 pro max , bobs nose cone and a detwil jack plate and i am having problems with the bottom of the boat, the gel coat is starting to crack, i don't like pushing the boat too fast b/c the cracks are getting worse but i also want to drive the boat to its limits without blowing the bottom out, i have been told that the bottom is a weak point on switzers so i want to get it coated with kevlar, does any one know who could do this, i know wally lamkin of triad is not far and he does use kevlar in his boats, is it possible to do this? would wally be able to help me? does anyone know someone how could help me. thanks chad merlinivk2@hotmail.com

Techno
07-14-2003, 08:42 PM
I can give you excellent advice.

STOP! [SIZE=4]

Those cracks can only be from 2 causes. The hull is compromised or the gell coat is stressed and cracked, maybe from a flexing hull.

Anyway if the hull is cracked and these gell cracks are visible tattle tails of it you don't even want to be on the water with it.

I don't know if you need Kevlar, it's just a lighter/stronger material than glass. I could say "you need graphite" in the same way as telling you to use Kevlar.

My hull cracked, which led to 4 cracks in total completely through the Kevlar hull. I didn't know it was cracked untill I saw the water filling the sponson, left. Yes the right one too. That means the center is filled too. UH OH!
When I found the cracks it was amazing it had held together.

They way you say it it sounds like your hull is all cracked up? It might be nothing or it could be devastating, wallet wise.

That pic shows the right side of the pad. 2- 9" cracks completly through and the same happening on the left. The right gel crack was 18" long. Only 9" of it right through. The left side looks less devastating but the kevlar had failed in those gell crack areas. Like bending a beer can back and forth.

switzer87
07-14-2003, 11:12 PM
actually the crack is only the outer gel coat, on switzers they put a gel coat over the metal flake fiberglass, so the crack is not through the hull, its kinda hard to explain they way switzer did their gel coat work. the outer gel coat is gray and underneath it is blue metal flake, so it seems as if the gray gel coat is not bond right or something or their is a weak point on the hull where the gel coat keeps cracking, the cracks are only hairline, my boat is not taking water at all, it is just very annoying, i tried to do a quick fix with duraglas but it didn't hold, what do u suggest, still the kevlar or try graphite. i know the day that the crack started i hit some good size boat wakes at 60-70 so its knida my fault, some jack ass pulled out in fornt of me and well u know boats don't have brakes so you know how it goes,so now i only run when its like glass. any help will be greatly appricated. thanks

Techno
07-15-2003, 07:24 PM
How do you know the cracks are only through the gell?

I had a Switzer and not sure of the hull but I seem to remember it was built with a chopper gun, I know the deck was anyway.

The strange painting thing is just how they taped it off and painted the mold with the colors. Probably sprayed the bottom gray and did the top in the blue overlapping the bottom. I don't know why they went that far though.

Not sure but think duraglass is a lousy sloppy blend of too much resin with glass fibers that clump where you don't want them and are too thin where you do. If that sounds right that stuff is crap in my opinion, depending on what it's used for.

To fix the gell you need to bevel it out with sanding or a Vee shaped scraper (can opener) then re gell it. If the glass is cracked under it, looks whitish, then you have to sand a bevel and reglass this area.

BUT if you think the hull is weak and causing all this cracking. Instead of recovering the whole hull with another lamm of whatever kind -strengthening the hull internaly with more stringers or a foam core/balsa core might be a better method.

BTW by the time your boat starts taking on water it's too late. Thats what happened to mine and I was lucky. It cracked like that in one short trip out.

switzer87
07-15-2003, 09:44 PM
i was under the boat today pushing on the spot where the crack is and it felt weak, the sound it made when i hit the area was not good, i can tell that there is a weak spot in the hull, the other side of the hull sounds much diff when i hit it, it is very hard and has no give, so i have found the problem i believe, i think i will let a prof tackle this, i think that part of the boat will have to be totally replaced stringer and all, it sounds and feels very soft so now i know why it keeps cracking in that spot. so for now i am gonna try something diff instead the duraglas, i will use a strip of fiberglass cloth, the crack is still very small and i would just like to use the boat for skiing, i think it will be fine as long as i go out when its like glass and keep the speeds low.

switzer87
07-15-2003, 09:56 PM
oh the glass is not cracked underneath, when i put the duraglas on the first time i sanding down into the blue metalflake fiberglass and there was no cracking so it is just the gel coat.but the flex of the hull in the weak spot is causing the gel to keep cracking, does that sound right , that is my guess. man i have spent $1000 already last year having the bottom of the boat redone, also the spot that is weak had a small hole in it when i bought the boat, the boat was very neglacted, i got it from a woman whose husband died so i am guessing the hole was there and he didn't even know it and it sat in the water getting totally saturated making that particular spot so weak, now it all makes sense. i just wonder how much this will cost me. i love the boat and the ride i hope it is savable. i got it up to 85 with 4 people in the boat before i found the crack. i have heard that all switzers are weak in that part of the boat, wonder why, too bad its a great boat other than that. i think i will soon be getting a allison, triad or stv soon.