Gel coat cracks…

[Tgoertz]

I bought my 25SC new in April 2021. Boat has been awesome. Have about 250hrs on it already.
3 weeks ago after cleaning it (highly recommended hot sauce to keep it shiny) I noticed spider cracks in the gel coat. Looked like an impact on the side, but the cracks in the same location on both sides of the hull.

Cobalt has been great and said the repair will be under warranty. The cracks are where cross-beam bulkhead support is.
Has anyone heard of this kind of problem before?
I’m concerned there is a structural issue and that this will continue to happen.

[NautiWeasel]

Ouch, that doesn't look good at all. Glad to hear Cobalt acknowledges it's a defect, and will be fixing it. Hopefully it's a permanent fix.

[billk2632]

Curius how they are fixing it -- is it being sent back to Cobalt? There must be enough movement where the bulkhead is tabbed into the hullside to cause the stress cracks -- if they don't fix that I am certain it will happen again.

[Tgoertz]

Local dealer had an authorized company come out and look the boat. The gentleman said once they fix the gelcoat it should not happen again. Glad Cobalt is fixing it, but I am concerned it will just happen again.

[jhnmdahl]

That's pretty unusual, and looks a lot like an impact to me. I'd want a better understanding of what caused it and why it won't happen again from Cobalt.

[anothershotinthehead]

I have the exact same boat. Haven't commissioned it yet for this year, but will be in the next day or so. I will look for similar cracks and report back.

[anothershotinthehead]

I bought my 25SC new in April 2021. Boat has been awesome. Have about 250hrs on it already.
3 weeks ago after cleaning it (highly recommended hot sauce to keep it shiny) I noticed spider cracks in the gel coat. Looked like an impact on the side, but the cracks in the same location on both sides of the hull.

Cobalt has been great and said the repair will be under warranty. The cracks are where cross-beam bulkhead support is.
Has anyone heard of this kind of problem before?
I’m concerned there is a structural issue and that this will continue to happen.

I washed and waxed my boat yesterday and there are no similar cracks. Glad to hear Cobalt will help, I hope it doesn't take too long.

[Tgoertz]

Cobalt covered the repair. Looks like a new boat.
Fingers crossed doesn’t happen.

[AsLan7]

Cobalt covered the repair. Looks like a new boat.
Fingers crossed doesn’t happen.

.
Wow. Thanks for the update Tg..
Throw us another pic. I bet she looks gorgeous.

[dsthomas]

I had some cracks and they were repaired, that was two years ago, have not had any return. Mine were on the deck near the ski tower. Same thing both on the exact location on port and starboard side. Dealer had no explanation. The repair place I used, with whom I'm very happy, said that Cobalt most likely got a bad batch of gelcoat caused by a freeze down in Texas and that the flexing of my tower most likely caused the bad gelcoat to crack. They were pretty confident that the gelcoat they used would withstand any flexing. Time will tell. If I continue to have this problem I don't know that I'll purchase another cobalt as it seems to be pretty common issue on 2020 and newer cobalts. I was very pleased with the way cobalt handled it, no questions asked repair covered.

Does anyone now how long the warranty on the gelcoat is? I thought I read three years?

[Tgoertz]

I had some cracks and they were repaired, that was two years ago, have not had any return. Mine were on the deck near the ski tower. Same thing both on the exact location on port and starboard side. Dealer had no explanation. The repair place I used, with whom I'm very happy, said that Cobalt most likely got a bad batch of gelcoat caused by a freeze down in Texas and that the flexing of my tower most likely caused the bad gelcoat to crack. They were pretty confident that the gelcoat they used would withstand any flexing. Time will tell. If I continue to have this problem I don't know that I'll purchase another cobalt as it seems to be pretty common issue on 2020 and newer cobalts. I was very pleased with the way cobalt handled it, no questions asked repair covered.

Does anyone now how long the warranty on the gelcoat is? I thought I read three years?

Believe gelcoat is 6 year warranty on Cobalt.

[Tgoertz]

Cobalt covered the repair. Looks like a new boat.
Fingers crossed doesn’t happen.

.
Wow. Thanks for the update Tg..
Throw us another pic. I bet she looks gorgeous.

Here are a couple of pictures. Looks pretty good.

[AsLan7]

She sure does…and my favorite colors!

[jhnmdahl]

It's reassuring to hear that Cobalt is still doing these things the "right" way - if they lose their reputation for doing that, they'll be competing in a pretty crowded field.

It's also worth remembering that the odds of us hearing about the worst boats that make it out the door are pretty good, given people are much more inclined to seek out online forums like ours when they're having problems. A handful of problem boats that are taken care of isn't a huge surprise, and it's how the problems are resolved that would have the greatest influence on my decision to buy another boat.

[Tgoertz]

Agreed. I’ve had a few other issues (paint chipping on tower, counter cracked, bimini bent). Cobalt has taken care of all of them.
I also have 320hrs in 3yrs so the boat is well enjoyed (and well maintained).