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My 1985 Frontier 25' has a crack in the hull 10ft. 5in. foreward from the transom. The crack is approx. 9 inches long and extends vertically from the rail toward the waterline. i have attached a photo of the crack, also here is a link that is supposed to be Boston Whaler instructions for fiberglass repair.[url] http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html[/url]

A little background. I have had the boat since it was new and use it to dive and fish around Southern California's Channel Islands. The hull has be subjected to rough seas many, many times. In other words lots of pounding and stress over the years. I have always been careful but taking a beating from time to time is unavoidable.

My question is does this look like something structural? Could the hull be essentially unsafe to use even if repaired? If it is repairable are these instructions a reasonable way to go forward?

Thanks in advance for your input!

-Clay

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I assume this on the topside (side of the boat) and we must rotate the picture 90 deg clockwise? Does the crack show on the gunwale or is it only on the outside topside.
If it is across the gunwale too and under the rubrail then yes I would worry it being a structural crack and it would require reinforcement of several new layers of fiberglass over a longer area. If not it might have been cause by a hit cracking the outer layer on FG.
No matter what you must repair it to keep water from intruding.

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Clay, I am not familiar with your "Frontier 25" model, but assume it is based on the same hull as the Outrage 25. If so, my understanding is that some of these hulls (particulalrly those with a Whaler Drive) were susceptible to structural hull cracks. Here is a thread you may wish to read:

http://whalercentral.com/forum/viewth...pid=133829

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Thanks so much for the feedback. My Whaler hull is the same as an Outrage 25 built the same year. It has a cabin forward with a large deck. I believe they were built for crabbing originally. It is great for diving as it has a large deck. The boat came with twin OMC 115 Sea Drives, I think that is what you mean by Whaler Drive. I repowered in 2001, installed a bracket and put twin Honda 130 HP motors on.
The crack is on the starboard, opposite the fuel fill and there are no other cracks that I can find. I can't really call it a defect as I've had the boat in the water and used it on the ocean for 32 years.

I'm happy to hear that it sounds repairable. I will be talking to local boat yards to get some pricing and will post pictures and pricing(ouch!) when I know more.

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Does your Frontier have a dive door on port?

A Whaler Drive is an additional offsetting bracket on the stern to which the motors mount.

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I know of one other person with a 25 outrage "cuddy" who cracked his hull in the same place. The way he explained the situation the cuddy was full of Tuna and ice and the combination of weight and pounding caused the crack. The hull was fixed and he continued to use it.

I don't recall where I read this but there was a known problem with the 25' Outrages that developed cracks in the same location. Maybe someone could post it if they have it.





He said Like He paid a fiber glass guy to

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On the last trip we did hit a submerged object on the way out.We did turn around to try to see what it was but the seas were too confused to find anything. That may have been what did it.
I have attached the page from the 1985 catalog with a description of the Frontier as well as a photo of my boat. The boat is getting hauled today so I should know more today or Monday.

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Sorry the attachments didn't load, one was too large of a file. Here is my boat:

Not sure why it appears upside down. When I click on the image it turns around.

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And the catalog picture. I hope!

Sorry it's turned & the quality isn't very good. On my computer it loads straight. I had to make the file size very small in order to load it on the site so the text is pretty blurry.

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I still cant tell if you have a dive door on the port side, but if you do have one and the crack is across from the door +/- a few feet, it may be due to the gunwhale not having support on the side with the dive door. I believe I read that the older whalers fitted with dive doors weren't properly stiffened in that area to compensate.
Without it being braced, the starboard side would have to carry its load down the length of the boat, as well as any load aft of the door which was not connected to the gunwhale or the side of the hull. The Whaler Drive would increase the moment arm in this situation.

The result would be a crack in the area I believe you are describing. I dont think its a catastrophic failure, but it will need to be repaired somehow before it grows.

Or, you dont have a dive door and the cause could be due to something else.

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Sorry for not answering that question. No I do not have a dive door on the boat.