welds cracking STABI-CRAFT

[stinky-stabi]

photo.jpgphoto(1).jpgphoto(2).jpgphoto(3).jpg
few pictures that i took but there was a lot more that i didnt have my camera for when fabricator had the floor up....those welds are on the sealed(not sealed anymore) pontoons...v crack is weld pulled through floor letting water in,an the long crack is the floor connenting to the hull... its going back to get more welding fixed up today...but in my opinion this sort of thing shouldnt be happening in 287hrs no matter how its been treated.....

[Salad Fingers]

wow werid to see that crack going at right angles to the weld in Pic #2. Doesn't happen very often.
Not very good at all, I had my 12month old stacer start cracking up like that and sinking but you wouldn't expect that with a stabi?

[Moonlighter]

One thing to consider is the trailer and it's set-up.

Not having a go at you at all, its just that it is regularly reported in boating magazines that more damage to hulls is caused by incorrectly setup trailers, or boats not tied down hard onto trailers when being towed (especially over rogh roads), than is ever caused by using boats in even the roughest conditions.

Is there any way the damage your boat has suffered could be related to such causes? Did the dealer supply/set up the trailer that's under the boat?

Regards

ML

[stinky-stabi]

One thing to consider is the trailer and it's set-up.

Not having a go at you at all, its just that it is regularly reported in boating magazines that more damage to hulls is caused by incorrectly setup trailers, or boats not tied down hard onto trailers when being towed (especially over rogh roads), than is ever caused by using boats in even the roughest conditions.

Is there any way the damage your boat has suffered could be related to such causes? Did the dealer supply/set up the trailer that's under the boat?

Regards

ML

have allready gone down this road with the fabricator(boat builder) and he seems to think that the material (ally sheetz) are chinese or the workmanship is just shite(i got the monday boat). just picked it back up this sarv and the fella workn on it said it is all very strange as welds are splitting in all directions????..............

[TheRealAndy]

I am by no means an expert in this subject, but I do recall some stuff from uni and that is not a weld failure. Looks like a design flaw. Aluminium is pretty flexible and that looks like failure due to the material either being to brittle or no room to flex due to poor design. I would be making some calls to stabicraft, warantee or not and asking questions. Rewelding failures like that is only a short term solution.

[stinky-stabi]

I am by no means an expert in this subject, but I do recall some stuff from uni and that is not a weld failure. Looks like a design flaw. Aluminium is pretty flexible and that looks like failure due to the material either being to brittle or no room to flex due to poor design. I would be making some calls to stabicraft, warantee or not and asking questions. Rewelding failures like that is only a short term solution.

yes have spoken sean who is the australasian sales manager this morning , (i rang nz this morning)am awaiting for some one from the factory to call back. the people who have fixed have advised to get a pro(inspection) on to it as he states there is more to it than meets the eye lolol as you say a short term fix

[boatie_72]

I agree to the other post, it doesn’t look like it’s a welding problem as such, more a material issue i.e. too hard on the scale. Aluminium has a 10% tolerance on its softness/hardness, which means its either 10% softer or 10% harder. And you don’t know what you’re going to get from batch to batch unless you have the tool to check it yourself. As for the material coming from china, a hell of a lot of the aluminium comes from china, even one of the best mills garmco get material made in china.

[unchainedjenner]

hope something gets sorted out for you there mate.

[Spaniard_King]

Yeh looks like material failure to me. Weld failures usually follow the weld direction either along or in the weld.

[TheRealAndy]

Once again, testing my memory here but I am certain we used portable brinell testers at uni for checking material hardness. Might pay to encourage stabicraft to use one. Might also help if you tell them about this thread, and how eager we are to see a good outcome!

[TheRealAndy]

Just had a though. The guys who machine aluminium engine heads for cars usually have those portable hardness testers. These guys are also pretty clued up on materials. Might pay to swing by one of them with a 6 pack and ask them to test the boat in a couple of spots.

[stinky-stabi]

Don
#
I have spoken to Owen (our in house warranty Manager).# The process going forward from here would be for you to go to your nearest Stabicraft dealer and they would fill in a warranty claim form.# At which stage we will assess the information received from them and Owen will respond with our reply/course of action.
#
If you are to get these issues fixed else where we are unable to stand behind this as warranty sorry.

[johncar]

You may have covered it somewhere else here so please excuse me if I missed it but did you take this issue to Stabicraft when you first started having problems?
I would assume that would have been your first port of call and hopefully you did. If you did not then I would ask why not?
I could understand to some degree that they would be less interested if major work had already been done on the boat before they got to see it, although if the minor weld repairs were a small part of an obvious major problem throughout the boat then they should help you regardless.
I thought that these boats had a reputation of being fairly robust so I would think that they would be interested if one were cracking up under normal use.
I have found that it pays to be patient, courteous and polite when dealing with such matters no matter how upset and frustrated you may feel, be careful not to get offside with the manufacturer. If you do all the right things and at the and of the day they leave you high and dry well then you have some justification to complain if you are in the right.

I wish you good luck with it.

I saw a thread recently where a guy was complaining about his boat digging the bow in at speed and after various amounts of advice/help from members he confessed that it had previously come off the trailer at 100kph. I am sure that this is not the case with your problem but when criticising a product we don't always know the full story and history of the boat on here so I just remain open minded about such things, that's all. If others are having similar problems then I am sure it will come out on here, should be plenty of Stabi owners out there..

[06Adsy]

Don
#
I have spoken to Owen (our in house warranty Manager).# The process going forward from here would be for you to go to your nearest Stabicraft dealer and they would fill in a warranty claim form.# At which stage we will assess the information received from them and Owen will respond with our reply/course of action.
#
If you are to get these issues fixed else where we are unable to stand behind this as warranty sorry.

Seems like a reasonable response. Why did you not take it back to Stabi in the first place?

Why do you have three threads going about the same issue?

Can you explain what this pic is?


Sorry for all the Q's but I'm just trying to understand a little better......

[Owen]

Based on the photo's presented I would think the cracks are as a result of flexing.
Apart from the pinhole, in one weld, they appear to be of good quality.
Plus you have cracking in areas with no weld. One appears to be at the end of a rib.. therefore a point of work hardening (the rib wont felx, but the sheet will right beside it)
Those cracks look like localised flexing caused by... Oh I don't know... Something like banging away on a roller on the other side? Strap it down pretty snugly?
Without seeing the actual setup, one can't make any conclusions, but I think Stabi is absolutely right to request it be taken to one of their dealers given what you have shown.
Note: I have no interest in Stabicraft, have never owned one, wish to own one or whatever.
I have spent a lot of years working with aluminium and that's what I base my comments on.
The fabricator who assessed it could be on the money... he's seen it after all.
But there's no way I (in Stabi's position) would pay up based on the evidence given here without seeing it myself.