Carver Owners Forum

Found this forum while searching for things about my new 2687. Overall seems to be a very sound boat and will be working on some things over the winter to prepare for the warm weather and get her in the water for the summer.

I have found one possible concern on a stringer that may or not be an issue some advice may be needed to see if its an issue or not and a repair or let it go.

On the port stringer under the motor mount area the fiberglass is not bonded to the stringer side. It is still in once piece but has like an air bubble between the glass and stringer. probably about a foot - foot and a half. Wood/metal still feels solid and no cracking in the fiberglass anywhere. I was curious if this area may be a steel channel portion that the motor mount attaches too and the glass became un-bonded from it? No cracks where the hull and stringers meet. just rear of this area there is a area that looks to be a drain channel from once side of the stringer to the other and can get my finger in there and the wood is solid there and the glass is still bonded. Hull and stern all very solid no cracking or any evidence of water in any parts of the stringers, stern, or hull. I will try to get some pictures of this area this week when I go to get some more info.

As of right now I have very little money into the boat/trailer but if this is going to be a big deal would like to cap it off now.

Welcome aboard!

I would get additional advice to this, because I could be wrong. I'm guessing this is a factory flaw
I would drill a hole into the fiberglass to see what is going on inside. If nothing, then prep the area for a fiberglass patch and patch it.
If the wood inside is rotten, well, then you have to make some decisions.

Welcome aboard.

Sounds like delamination to me. The most common cause is moisture in the substrate but there are other less scary causes. A fiberglass tech who knows his stuff can sound the area with a mallet as a first step, and can also take a moisture reading for additional information. If the conclusion points to a possible problem with the core, taking core samples would reveal a true picture of what's going on and help decide how to remedy the issue. It could be a simple fix or a very serious one.

You can go for years with wet stringers before encountering structural and mechanical problems as a result. Until you probe deeper, you won't know how bad or good things are. If the core is wet, it won't get better, it'll only get worse and eventually accelerate at an exponential rate.

Here's hoping for the best outcome. Keep us posted.