Hit a submerged tree - Repair advice - 1989 Sunsport

[dyost]

Only 7 months into boat ownership I had my first mishap.

Took the boat to Tuttle Creek Lake (Mahnattan, KS) this weekend to meet up with my parents/brothers, they brought the campers, I brought the boat, this lake is the halfway point between where they live and I live.

Anyway, Saturday we're headed back to the ramp into 2.5-3ft whitecaps as there was a 30mph wind that came up on the open lake while we were in the back cove riding/surfing. Creeping through just enough speed to keep the nose up (10mph or so) when the boat comes down off a wave we feel the back end hit something solid. There were a few trees showing in this area too. I should have been way wider into the open lake but was trying not to beat/soak everyone to death and got into a bad spot.

Anyway, here are some photos of the damage. Looking at the back of the boat it is all pretty much in a straight line under the port side exhaust outlet. The initial impact is about 18" in front of that. Few chunks out of the gelcoat and a lot of spider cracks. There is another chuck right at the transition to the transom.

Anybody know the best way to determine if this is structural or not? Do I need to get under the fuel tank and inspect on the top side for any cracks? Where is this in relation to the main stringer?
There is a boat shop near me that says they do fiberglass repair, I'm just not sure how experienced they are (and they probably don't have any experience with inboard boats). I would like to have a good idea what the assessment is before taking to a shop for their opinion.

Best case is it just chunked out the gel in a few spots and spider cracked where it flexed. So in that scenario it would just be gelcoat repair correct? What is my worst case?

Any advice you guys can offer would be greatly appreciated....THANKS!IMG_7286.jpgIMG_7285.jpgIMG_7282.jpgIMG_7283.jpgIMG_7284.jpg

[dyost]

More pics of damage

[dyost]

3rd round of photos

IMG_7292.jpgIMG_7293.jpgIMG_7294.jpgIMG_7295.jpgIMG_7296.jpg

[dyost]

Last round of pics....

IMG_7298.jpgIMG_7299.jpgIMG_7297.jpgIMG_7300.jpgIMG_7301.jpg

[dyost]

So I realize these photos are all out of order, sorry for that. The third set helps establish where exactly on the boat I'm talking about. The first set of five gives a better idea of the total area of damage. All the other pics are various close-ups of the three major gouged areas and the spider cracks around them in the gelcoat.

Also, if anyone has a good boat shop they would recommend in the Kansas City area, I'm all ears......

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

[dyost]

I'm also realizing that if I had been just 6 inches or so further left that this tree would have probably cleaned off all of my running gear. That would have sucked plenty, but we probably would have had a long ride all the way to the north end of the lake where we would have been stuck. Not much on Tuttle Creek Lake and not that many people at all out on last Saturday.

[michael hunter]

Call your insurance co this should be covered. Also have the shop check the running gear for straightness.

[Zim]

IMO, that doesn't LOOK structural... looks more like it just chipped the gelcoat off of there, but didn't do much to the glass. You could probably repair this yourself fairly easily with a gel coat repair kit, some sandpaper, and a little time. Looks about the same as a worn down keel from people that beach their boat, and those repairs aren't too bad. Nice thing is, it's on the bottom of your boat, so things don't really need to match 100%. You'll be able to get pretty close. Not as bad as it looks IMO. I'd get it checked out by a pro though to tell you.

Do you have insurance?

[Supra-in-steamboat]

Second on the straightness of your drive being checked. The glass repairs don't look all that bad. Good luck whatever you end up doing.

[pridekit]

In the last set of pics, the first picture, it looks like there is a dark spot in the fiberglass. A hole or maybe just a dark spot in the glass/resin, I'd check that out for sure. The rest just looks like gelcoat to me.