Gel coat cracking around tower mount

I have a 97 super sport with a 2001 flight control tower which just started to crack around the front driver side mount. I did a good job of checking the mounts for tightness early in the season but never had any issues. well, I went to wipe the boat off after the last time out and noticed two cracks, one about 1/2 inch and the other about 3/4. I checked the bolts and two were loose. I was wondering what I should do? I have tightened the bolts and wonder what I should do with the crack to stop the spreading and or repair it. I was told to use a dremel tool and drill at the end of the crack to stop it from spreading sounds drastic, is this my only option.

Mike,

Get with someone that know's how to do glass work if you dont, or get a book and learn how to do it. FiberGLASS does not flex it cracks. It happens around Tuna Tower mounts, windshield frames, cleats, motor mounts, tow points and yes - even wakeboard towers. It's not a huge deal and it can be easily fixed. I did tons of this when I was younger and you need to grind out the crack down to some glass, put some resin & chop in there to fill it back up, re-gelcoat with some color match, finish it out and go ride some more. You may want to lay up a few more layers of glass underneath during this under the deck for the front legs of the tower at the same time for some cheap insurance.

Also, have you had people diving off your tower, this is way beyond what gelcoat can handle if you have a tower with fixed mounts. If so this is what caused the problem.

Bill

Mike, another thing to look at if your hardware is coming loose, use nuts with a nylon locking insert. This, along with a lock washer will prevent them from coming loose in the future. I check my hardware every few time out but have never had a problem of them getting loose with the locking nuts.

Thanks for the tips guys I plan on changing the hardware and even putting some lock tight on the bolts. I will probably wait till the end of the season for the fiberglass repair and re-enforcing. I may try the dremel trick to get me out of the woods for my cracks spreading. If anyone thinks that waiting till the end of the season to make repairs will cause problems let me know. i.e. (water getting into the glass).

I want to say that its just the gel coat that is cracking not the fiberglass. Its like finding a scratch in the paint of you car. You not losing any stregnth of you hull because of those cracks. It is better to get it fixed sooner to stop it from spreading and keep water out of the fiberglass. If youve ever done any body work on a car this sould be a very easy fix.

Buy some loctite thread lock. This will stop them from loosening, and will come loose when you need it to.

I just noticed a thin crack in the gelcoat under my windshield. Do I need to remove the windshield for this repair?

If its the newer Flight Control Tower you should also check to see if the backing plates are installed. The backing plate should have the same diameter footprint as the tower foot itself, Who installed the tower? Did they put extra support to the deck, the deck may need to have some sort of extra support installed to minimize flex.

i'v herd fro nautique that pre99 00 boats need to be beefed up where tower mounts to the top of the boat . do like mike said except put 4-6 layers on the inside so its realy beafy

I looked today and there is a support plate on the back two mounts. The front however seems to have a half support more to level than support. Thanks for all the input I will beef up the front at the end of the season and hope the cracks stay where they are.