Am I the Lucky one? Thumb through deck!

[Skibum_69]

So today I was doing my annual cleaning and waxing the interior before wrapping the boat. I was waxing the floor when I heard what sounded like a popping noise under my hand. Me being OCD, I started pressing on the deck where the noise came from and my thumb went through the gel coat. I bought and have babied this thing for the past 5 years and it still looks showroom new. Must have been an air pocket in the gel coat but I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this on their Yamaha boats? Needless to say, I’m pretty pissed off about it and wonder if it’s even worth contacting Yamaha over. I’ve attached pictures and would like to hear what you would do in this situation.

 

[drewkaree]

 

[BumbleBee255]

I have one of those in my engine hatch. I filed a claim with Yamaha, waiting to hear back from them.

 

[CastawayRK]

I think you should absolutely contact Yamaha. Not sure they will do anything but you don’t know unless you ask.
How deep is it? If it’s just a surface bubble it would be easy to fix with gel coat touch up from Spectrum. That might be easier than screwing around with the average dealer even if Yamaha would fix it
Either way good luck!

 

[Neutron]

6 year old boat, doubtful Yamaha would do anything. This can happen in areas where moisture gets behind the gelcoat and separates it from the glass.
That area is prone to have water sit.

 

[BeepBeep]

Such BS, very poor manufacturing.

 

[Skibum_69]

I think you should absolutely contact Yamaha. Not sure they will do anything but you don’t know unless you ask.
How deep is it? If it’s just a surface bubble it would be easy to fix with gel coat touch up from Spectrum. That might be easier than screwing around with the average dealer even if Yamaha would fix it
Either way good luck!

It wasn’t a bubble at all. Looked completely normal. I could reach under it from the battery compartment and everything is solid. I believe it was an air pocket that just finally broke down.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’ve got voids like that on my boat… The first one was exposed by a hail stone strike in the first month I had it. There are others; by the fire port, in the small storage spot below the binnacles, on the door to the head compartment, and a couple others.

These gel coat fixes are on the off season repair list as well as the dings, chips and scrapes I’ve put on it. What I’ve learned from my research about gel coat repair is to not use the waxed patch repair kits. Gel coat needs an anaerobic condition to cure, the best way to achieve this is with PVA sprayed on to seal the surface, this can be done with a hand held sprayer or compressed air powered paint pot. Saran Wrap can be used but will be a bit harder to sand off.

This guys channel makes it as simple as it can be. In another of his vids he talks about having a quart of gel coat made up and ready to use for any dings and scratches that happen in a boating season..he color matches his own, but you can get color matched gel coat for your Yamaha boat from Spectrum. I haven’t made any repairs yet but am told that once you’ve done it a time or two gel coat repairs are quick and relatively easy, it’s just a process to learn.