Cracks!

After the winter of 2009 I noticed that cracks had begun to appear along the edges of the XCR's ama decks. I assumed that it must have been the result of stress from letting the kids ride on the amas at the last Lake Powell Messabout.

I wasn't sure I could access the interiors well enough to repair the cracks, but once I removed the inspection ports I found that I could reach in far enough inside to trace the cracks with my fingers. Since the cracks were limited to the region between the bulkheads, I was able to repair them with fiberglass tape and fillets applied from the inside.

Then, over the winter of 2010 the cracks returned with a vengeance. This time they showed up in various places along all of the ama panel seams, including spots that would only be accessible by completely removing the decks. Over time they continued to get worse until I had ugly gashes running along the decks and chines. I was completely stymied as was Chris who suggested that it might have something to do with expansion and contraction from seasonal hot and cold. I can see how this might cause some cracking but I don't think it explains why the cracks continued to grow. I'm wondering now if it could be some kind of failure of the epoxy.

This looks like a serious repair job made worse by the fact that I don't know what caused the cracks in the first place. Eventually I will repair the amas. But in the meantime I am hatching a new scheme to take the XCR a radical new direction.