How the hell do I fix this?

[Sean R]

Last weekend my wife noticed a chunk of the dash board was missing/broke. We have no idea how this happened and its a pretty protected area. Even if I thru my phone at it, you wouldn't think it would punch a hole in the dash. Any ideas how to fix this? Searched high and low for the missing piece but no luck.

 

[2kwik4u]

Cheese and Rice that's a big chunk to be missing from the dash. Do you trailer with the cover off, and maybe a rock/debris fell and hit it? I've never seen the dash do something like that before. Weird.

I think black gelcoat is available from Spectrum. Will take some work to repair/sand/polish that area back out, but I think it's doable.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Just a theory but it is out in the sun during use and if there was an air bubble under the finish coat that was in direct sunlight long enough it could have just popped the section off the surface and blew it far enough to land in the water. Also I looked closely and I don't see a point of impact anyplace around the divot.

 

[adrianp89]

I think there is a video of a guy fixing this with ramen noodles...

Seriously though I'd prob live with it until season is over, then remove entire dash and let a pro handle it.

 

[Sean R]

Just a theory but it is out in the sun during use and if there was an air bubble under the finish coat that was in direct sunlight long enough it could have just popped the section off the surface and blew it far enough to land in the water. Also I looked closely and I don't see a point of impact anyplace around the divot.

You might be on to something, there are no signs of impact. Even if something feel on it there is such a small line of sight for something to hit it. I keep the boat in a covered dry slip with the cover on, so it doesn't bake in the sun 365. But of course it does see the Georgia sun on the water for hours at a time. I won't mess with it till late November when the season is over.
I might do a quick fix for the time being and color the foam insulation with a black sharpie

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

Maybe take a black permanent marker and color the raw fiberglass? Of course, it doesn't fix anything, but it camouflages it a bit so that you eye is not constantly drawn to the color difference. Then fix it proper at the end of the season.

Jim

 

[HangOutdoors]

throw some black waterproof tape over it for now so water doesn't get down there from whatever and fix it after the season. Spectrum does carry that color as well.

 

[Cambo]

Get some sea deck and cover it.

 

[Tatalover78]

Black Gorilla tape... Worry about it next year

 

[drewkaree]

 

[Elliott]

It looks like an excellent place for mounting a phone holder or some other item that fills/covers the hole and serves a purpose.

Why have an expensive repair, when you can have some new cool thing?

 

[David Martin]

Black Gel coat will fix it. It looks like after they sprayed the mold with gel(thick) the fiberglass mat with the first layer of resin gets rolled into the gel backing the mat and resin has to to rolled to remove all air bubbles to get a good adhesion on the gel it can crack and separate if their was a small air pocket. In corners is where this separation occurs at a higher rate than on flat glass areas.

Its just an anomaly get it fixed and enjoy.

Hope this helps a little

 

[Ronnie]

I had the same thing happen on my 2010 242 ls dash. Like Jeff said mine were air bubbles/pockets (manufacture defect). I thought about filling the gap and painting it but knew that would look like crap and that I’d have a hard time matching the color. So i fitted and installed a piece of seadek there instead.

 

[Sean R]

I had the same thing happen on my 2010 242 ls dash. Like Jeff said mine were air bubbles/pockets (manufacture defect). I thought about filling the gap and painting it but knew that would look like crap and that I’d have a hard time matching the color. So i fitted and installed a piece of seadek there instead.

Seadek sounds the easiest or the flex tape I guess it could be worse, it could be the opposite side facing inbd.

 

[Ronnie]

Flex tape is not that easy to work with and is very difficult to remove. I suggest you buy a small sheet of seadeck and cut a few parts out to put over the damaged area and the surrounding area so the main piece doesn’t look like a patch/bandaid. Also consider checking for other soft spots in the dash and cover those as well.

 

[Sean R]

I wasn't going to use flex tape, just being funny.

 

[Tyguy]

Ooof. Off all the locations it had to be right where you’ll be looking every time you’re at the helm. Sorry this happened to you.

I’d start by approaching Yamaha. This definitely looks like a void. Note the crack at the top part of the damage, which indicates more defective area, and it looks like there’s gap around other areas. If Yamaha doesn’t cover this and you repair it yourself, you may want to inject some resin around the perimeter to reinforce the area before a permanent cosmetic repair is performed.

 

[brokitansky]

I would say there’s about a 0.00001% chance of Yamaha covering this, speaking from experience I had with a similar gel coat defect that Yamaha just flat out refused to fix. Just put some black epoxy in there and call it done.

 

[jmargo]

Definitely appears to be a void behind it. It also looks like it extends further down the edge and may end up being pretty extensive. Lightly tap around the area with a coin and listen for change in density to try and determine the size of the void. You should at least contact Yamaha and have them deny the claim before doing any work yourself.
From Yamaha:
PERIOD OF COSMETIC LIMITED WARRANTY: Imperfections in the exterior cosmetic gelcoat finish (cracks, crazing, mold marks, etc.) and upholstery on a Yamaha Boat shall be warranted for a period of one (1) year from the Date of Original Purchase for both Personal and Commercial Use.

 

[Sean R]

I do have the YES warranty but I really doubt Yamaha will fix it. I'll be out on the boat this weekend, ill do some tapping to see how extensive the void is. I would guess the void is around 1/8" or 3mm for you metric guys. I am not a fiberglass guy, I assumed the helm was a big piece of plastic and the foam was just for noise reduction.