Gel coat cracks - what is normal?

[chaloux]

I am looking at a 2014 Prostar and asked for more photos as the photos on the ad are terribly low-res.  The owner sends me all these, which show imperfections, which were not mentioned in the ad at all.  Seems like a lot of cracks to me - my 94 Sport has 0 cracks, and this Prostar is cracked left right and center it seems.  Is this normal?  Does it indicate something has happened?  I asked and they replied "no impacts just a 10 year old boat" Hmmm...  Some of these photos are of small gelcoat damage which doesn't bother me, I have a good fiberglass connection from fixing the Sport.  I've just never seen this many cracks and they seem to be kind of everywhere.  Thoughts?

 

Hmm BoS seems to have downsized the photos a bit, here's a google drive link. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JTkmVFNAB0E5jS4vJNoGh9mge07FcVOb

 

[Andre]

That's a lot of missing gelcoat for a 390 hrs boat but easily fix.Hope the rest has been well maintained!  You've  seen Ottawa ski club 200 for sale ?  It has the 5.7 wich is a no for me but maybe ok with you...

[chaloux]

2 minutes ago, Andre said:

That's a lot of missing gelcoat but easily fix.Hope the rest has been well maintained! How many hrs ? You've  seen Ottawa ski club 200 for sale ?  

Yeah I've been talking with Rob, he seems great.  I was almost to the point of making it happen at the end of the season but timing wasn't right for me.  This Prostar has 390 hours and is reasonably priced but still a stretch for me at the moment (just finishing up garage build).  

[Mastercrafter]

I’ve seen some gnarly cracks on a 2023 Prostar and I just picked up a clapped out 2014 with a whole bunch of hours with no cracks.  My guess is that it’s something to do with the gelcoat and glass when the boat is built.. some better than others. There was a 2019 Ski Nautique for sale with bad cracks too but the boat looked great otherwise

Probably fine 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Andre]

Personnally,after missing out on 2 200 6 liters  CB last fall,i've decided to keep my 2k hours 94.New vinyls and carpet this year and engine rebuilt next. At 60 y.o. decided to keep my money for retirement. Taking June,July and August off work!

[slow]

That’s a lot of abuse. Would take a substantial discount for me to consider it and a thorough inspection.

[Horton]

@chaloux

Something wrong with this boat. I'm going to go out a limb and say that something happened. There was some gnarly incident or the previous owner was incredibly abusive. Not normal.

If the gel coat is that bad, did they change the oil? What other things did they not take care of?

The price would have to be GREAT.

[chaloux]

The price is 65k CAD, in the 47-48 USD range. I feel the price would be reasonable for a 14 Prostar with 390h without the spider cracks... But my gut tells me to pass on this. If I happen to be in the area (6hr away) I would check it out but I don't think I'd make a trip to go look. 

[Horton]

@chaloux Hard Pass. Keep surfing https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Boat_3Event

For the same money you can have this one https://www.ski-it-again.com/php/skiitagain.php?endless=summer&topic=Search&category=Boat_3Event&postid=69752