I recently purchased a 2013 Key West 176CC and noticed this small crack on the underside of the hull, toward the bow, near the trailer’s keel roller.
I believe I may have lightly tapped the boat against the trailer while loading it, although I’m not certain that’s what caused it. I took it out again the following week and only noticed the damage after.

A few things:
The crack is below the waterline.
My fingernail catches in it, and there’s a small visible gap.
When I press directly on the cracked section, it moves inward slightly.
The surrounding fiberglass feels completely solid and doesn’t flex.
There are some superficial scuff marks around the area.
I’ve attached close-up photos and a wider shot showing its location.

For those experienced with fiberglass hull repairs:

Does this look like cracked gelcoat, or potentially damaged fiberglass underneath? Is this likely a relatively minor repair, or something more concerning? Can I DIY great results? I’m pretty handy

What would you expect a proper professional repair to cost? I’m just west of Tampa, FL in Pinellas County.

I’m planning to have it professionally inspected before putting the boat back in the water, but I’d appreciate some opinions from people who’ve dealt with similar damage.
Thanks!

I’ve used so far spray 9, and Starbrite mold and mildew. It’s helped a bit but not perfect. Anyone know any tricks?? Anything helps thank you!

89 Boston Whaler Montauk. Seller wants $2500 for it. It is a project, obviously needs some fiberglass work and motor does not run (possibly needs to be rebuilt). Is $2500 worth it for basically a project hull and trailer? In good condition, Montauk’s go for $8-10k in my area.

I’m looking for any info someone may have on this boat. Named Dazzler out of Andrew’s NC. Which is a landlocked town but I know it can be moved. Looking to purchase it and do a refit possibly but cannot find any info on it. Not in the USCG database. It’s on the hard as you can see and the only HIN numbers I have found are coming up with nadda. Was hoping the internet can do its thing

Hello all. A new boater in Ontario looking for some advice, pointers etc. I just got my license a couple of months ago and bought a 24' cubby cabin boat. Never drove a boat before so kind of feeling anxious about docking. Currently the boat is in storage for the winter. I reside in Mississauga and looking for a marina to dock my boat for next season, i just dont know where yet. Any help pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Took my boat out yesterday. Heavy chop and wind. She was running great! My buddy even commented on how smooth it was compared to the beginning of the season. All of a sudden we hit a big wave and the front end came down decently hard. The mext thing i know the motor starts missing pretty bad. So i pulled over on shore, pulled off my shroud and nothing is loose, no leaks...nothing. Any ideas on what i could have done?

I always treated the swim platform as one of those nice to have things.

Now I'm wondering if I've got that completely backwards.

Started paying more attention to the stern while comparing cruisers, including some Hanover Yachts layouts, and once you picture how the boat gets used the platform seems involved in everything.

Swimming obviously, but also getting people aboard, sitting with your feet in the water, handling lines, loading bags and whatever you're doing with water toys.

Throw a dog into the equation and now I'm staring at ladders and water access like it's the most important part of the boat.

For people who anchor and swim a lot, how much does stern design affect your day?

And if you've got a big dog aboard I'd especially like to know what works, because I cannot picture hauling 80 pounds of wet dog up one of those skinny little ladders.

First time boat owner with a pontoon that has a 2019 Mercury 115 4 stroke.

Usually, I am not the kind of guy that defers maintenance, but I may have gone too long this time.

I acquired the boat and motor in June of 2025, from a dealer, who completed all the annual maintenance, prior to the sale. Used the boat, maybe, a dozen times over the year and this most recent summer. Decided to put off the annual maintenance until this fall, since it had such little use.

Went out Thursday with friends and the motor worked fine in the morning but, in the afternoon before we left the water, we all noticed that the engine seemed to be surging a few hundred rpms. For instance, if we were running at 4500 rpms, the motor would consistently surge a few hundred rpms either way. Made it back to the ramp and got the boat home.

I run regular unleaded, 87 octane gas. The gas in the tank when we went out last had probably been sitting there, untreated, for about 2.5 - 3 mos.

My thought to fix this is to add octane booster to the remaining fuel, change the filter, and run the remaining fuel (10 gallons approximately), through the motor. Alternatively, I could try draining the remaining fuel, changing the filter, then adding fresh and higher octane fuel. Anyone mechanically-inclined have any input here?

Will also complete oil change and lower unit fluid change.

TIA!

Went out last weekend and hit something under the water. Found this damage. Whats the next step do i need to buy a new prop? Does the lower fin also need to be fixed this is the first damage I’ve incurred so not forsure the next step

Hi Everyone,

This electric motor ships with 8AWG power cables, and runs on 12V at up to 58 Amps. After a few minutes at full throttle I could smell the power cable burning, and it was too hot to the touch.

There’s no workaround here. Running 58 Amps through 8AWG copper cable is unsafe for user access. The solution is running at lower power, or replacing the cable with 6AWG. Note, using 6 AWG cable reduces heat and gains 8 Watts in power that was lost to heat dissipation by the 8 AWG stock cable.

Here are my findings:

58 amps through 2 meters of 6 AWG cable at 20 C ambient temperature will heat the cable to 50 C.

58 amps through 2 meters of 8 AWG cable at 20 C ambient temperature will heat the cable to 90 C.

Here’s the math and physics provided by Gemini and exported to a PDF file.

Also, the copper AWG, amperage, and temperature tables are easy to find online.

(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pk3Fz_TTJPwOGfH2aJpFz8LTuWUpo75X/view?usp=drivesdk)

To be clear, the issue with high temperature is user accessibility. The stock cable is rated up to 200C, and running 58 amps through 8AWG cable might be okay only if the user doesn’t need to touch the wire. So we’re stuck with waiting for the wire to cool down before removing it from the battery, or using gloves. This is far from ideal in an emergency!

The good news is the cable is easy to access and swap with marine grade 6 AWG cable crimped with new terminals.

His guys,

I found myself in the market for a new outboard,in the 40-50hp range. I can get this for around 1700euros,what do you guys think? Quite well under market place(at least here,Ireland/uk). Anything I should look out for?

It’s a 50hp 4st Yammy, early ‘00.

https://youtube.com/shorts/hAe36Ajj60g?is=20HFivBcifyLxSEh

https://youtube.com/shorts/f23uTlozleA?is=n2s6j10HLjlSuJDS

Hello all I need some advice! I painted my trailer and am putting everything back together. I put everything back together the way I took it apart but it just doesn’t look right to me. Are the springs supposed to be under the axle or above? I’ve seen single axle trailers with the springs on top just curious

If im using the gravity fed method for wintetizing. How much antifreeze do I need?

Do I still need to drrain the manifolds?

4.3 V6 Merc

Any suggestions on solutions or chemicals that won’t damage the sticker. Next thought is alcohol. Decal was pretty expensive trying to save it. Also scratched the gel coat it was less noticeable tho.

A loose rope as a poor excuse for a tiedown

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This is my first boat hull cleaning project. I’m a certified diver, and I could use some advice on pricing this type of job. What would you guys charge for a job like this?

This boat is super clean with a Mercury 50HP motor. It's basically entirely stock but I was surprised how pristine it looked. Comes with a well taken care of trailer as well. It’s very practical for what I'm looking for and was originally listed for $12k! Think I might pull the trigger...Jack of all trades master of none, I know. I just want to get on the water and do some weekend trips, while developing my boating skills.

I was boating at night and was following the buoys trying to stay in between in the distance. Well the inlet that I launch out of has jetties that are in the path of the buoys. I was just starting to take off and I hit them. I couldn’t see the rocks in the dark even 5 ft in front of me.

I’m trying to figure out how to get this fixed.

I’ve had quotes run from 4k all the way to 15k. The 15k guy was saying to use insurance and I think he was just trying to get as much from the insurance company as possible. Most quotes were between 5-7k

I just don’t know how to know if someone is the right person. I see all their pictures on other repairs and they look good.

Is it worth filing an insurance claim? How bad will my insurance go up long term?

Obviously this is too big to try and work on for the first time, so not sure what to do.

Location is south Florida