Cracks in transon of 1982 Sea Hunter

[Hansy Grueber]

Hello, I am new to the forum. I am looking at a 1982 Sea Hunter. It has cracks on the transom. I am hoping for any help or guidance about how this can be fixed and how much it might cost. I searched for any threads or info about cracks and didn't see this type of cracking. I put some pictures. There is a crack where the motor mount bolt goes through, looks like it was tightened and the transom was chrushed by the bolt. There are also cracks on both sides of the perimeter of the transom (inside the bump outs). The perimeter cracks have been attempted to be repaired, and painted over, but now they are cracking through again.

Any help or advice is very much appreciated! Otherwise this is a good looking boat with a nice motor. Thank you!!

[Chief of the Boat]

How big of engine?  Pictures please.

[amazing grace]

Huh, that might be a first.  Yea pix would help.

[Hansy Grueber]

Ok I have pictures but they were too big to upload. I will shrink them and upload them, thanks for your replies!!

[Yachter Yat]

    This is a first for me.  I've never heard of an Arima transom cracking.  Makes you wonder if this boat wasn't in some kind of accident.  Maybe the motor hit something solid underwater? 

Yat

[GregE]

Spider cracks in the gel coat are common and aren't a problem except esthetically.
you are looking at one of the originals. 

Watching for some detailed pics--- 

[croaker stroker]

99% superficial gelcoat cracks.....1% someone rear ended the boat or hit something.

You could always give a deposit pending professional advice from a fiberglass repair person.

[Danno]

Ok I have pictures but they were too big to upload. I will shrink them and upload them, thanks for your replies!!

Upload them to your gallery. The ArimaOwners site will resize them for you.

[Fisherdv]

Ok I have pictures but they were too big to upload. I will shrink them and upload them, thanks for your replies!!

Upload them to your gallery. The ArimaOwners site will resize them for you.

Then copy and paste the (Img) to your post

[Hansy Grueber]

Thank you everyone for your patience, I am just figuring out how this works. I put the pictures in the gallery. It probably was an accident of some sort. The motor on there now is a 50 hp Tohatsu, 2015. I like the boat, with this nice newer motor, decent trailer, new electrical, and a Bimini top, but these cracks look pretty serious. Any suggestions of how to proceed, or just walk away and keep looking. Owner is asking $5900. Thank you all again, Matt

[croaker stroker]

Looks like it has been repaired.

Maybe it's just me, but the transom height looks low ??

The transom normally has an aluminum extrusion on the top edge.  It could just be that the owner replaced the aluminum extrusion with fiberglass and gel coat.

I still think a professional should have a look. New motor and transom repair makes me suspicious.

Have you asked the owner what happened ?

Pics are here ——>. http://www.arimaowners.com/index.php?action=gallery;cat=2

[GregE]

Hmmm

Get a helper to push and pull on the bottom of the motor-  same thing as the prop pushing forward or aft.  Put a finger on the cracks to see/ feel if they expand under load.

I'm with CS on his concerns.

[Danno]

The transom normally has an aluminum extrusion on the top edge.  It could just be that the owner replaced the aluminum extrusion with fiberglass and gel coat.

Maybe the early Arima boats didn't have the extruded aluminum?

[Tom Mac]

Not knowing what how and why on the cracks I personally would keep on looking. I have all ways understood that there has never been a transom failure so what has happened to this poor Arima? To bad it has nice modern power.

[Tom BC]

I have an '89 Sea Hunter with an original '89 Merc 60hp 2 stroke on it. Mine does have the aluminum extrusion on the top edge as mentioned above, although it is a few years newer and maybe they didn't put them on back then. I can tell you that I have no cracks whatsoever in the transom, cosmetic or otherwise. The boat had an accident at some point from a previous owner, the bottom of the leg is broken off and the hull has been repaired with marine tex (poorly, going to fix one day but it is watertight). Not sure if it was run aground or trailering accident but whatever happened would have put some significant stress on the transom, and still there are no cracks (I had a close look before buying it), a testament to how well these things are built. It's hard to tell from your pics but I would be very wary, it looks to me like a poorly done repair job hidden under the paint that is failing, those cracks look too large to just be gel coat spidering.

I will also say a 50hp four stroke is a bit under powered in my opinion. It is a nice new motor but I suspect it would struggle a bit getting up on a plane. When I have my anchor & gear in the boat it struggles  to get up on a plane, there have been many times I wished I had a 70 or 75hp main but I'm not ready to pay the price tag attached to such an upgrade.

Pics below

[ishan]

this thread reminded me of a text a friend sent a couple weeks ago





"I really need your advice on a serious problem.

I have suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me. If the phone rings and I answer, the caller hangs up. She goes out with the girls a lot. I try to stay awake to look out for her when she comes home, but I usually fall asleep.
Anyway, last night about midnight I hid in the tool shed behind the boat. When she came home she got out of someone's car, buttoning her blouse. Then she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on.
It was at that moment, crouched behind the boat, that I noticed a hairline crack in the outboard engine mounting bracket. Is that something I can weld, or do I need to replace the whole bracket?"

[Fisherdv]

   :applause:

[Hansy Grueber]

Wow great info, thank you all very much. Good sense of humor too!! What a helpful crew.

One other thing I noticed is that you could see where a repair has been made, and the whole area had been painted. I don't think the repair is holding up. I think it is time to keep looking. I will keep reading through the forum to learn more. Thanks again.

[Hunter]

Here's a crack thread from our old 22SL......   

http://www.arimaowners.com/index.php?topic=8120.0

[Markshoreline]

I have never seen such cracks on an Arima. That's a poor rebuild in my opinion.

[GregE]

I think it is time to keep looking. I will keep reading through the forum to learn more. Thanks again.

Both good decisions IMO,  wELKome aboard   :arms:

[AJFishin]

I agree with the above concerns and those cracks look like they open when there's stress on the transom.
I think you might want to check the others out that are listed.