Deck makes a crackling sound

[henrym]

When I walk on both the fore and cockpit deck, the deck makes a crackling sound. Is this normal for the deck to make this sound or a more serious sign that the fiberglas deck is delaminating from the deck coring? What deck coring was utilized on the R-25 hull #75?
Henry

 

[Trinity]

Hmmmm
No crackling sound on ours. Hope everything is OK.

Nancy

 

[Andrew Custis]

Ranger Tugs uses a closed cell foam on all of the coring. I would get a professional opinion on this. Let me know what you find out.

 

[Stella Maris]

Andrew,
We have had this same issue since purchasing Solitude. I have kept my eye out for gel coat grazing in the area and have not noted any. Also in these areas that give off the crackling sound, if you tap with a rubber mallet, it sounds hollower compared to the surrounding area.

 

[henrym]

I'm wondering if anyone else out there is experiencing the "Crackling Deck Syndrome?"
Henry

 

[CaptMac]

Yep, a little on the foredeck - starboard side. No visible evidence of anything. I keep forgeting to ask/tell Andrew about it.

Mac

 

[Snug Tug]

Yep, we've had the same crackling sound on both the foredeck and cockpit (engine cover hatch). It's hard to describe the sound in an e-mail but it sounds sort of like walking on dry rice crispies cereal. Don't know what it means or if it's a problem but we've been hearing it. (Hull # 25)

 

[henrym]

I just spent an hour plus tapping the entire deck surfaces with a hard plastic tipped mallet and found 6 hollow spots on the engine hatch, a 3" X 4" area on the cockpit deck below the starboard step, the entire starboard cockpit hatch sounds hollow when compared to the port battery hatch, a 5" X 3" hollow sounding area on the fore deck. All of these areas crackle when you first walk on them, sort of like the sound you would expect from walking on dry rice crispies. I'm wondering what the solution is for this problem, drilling holes in the deck and injecting epoxy into the hollow pockets?
Henry

 

[JTREV]

I have the same type of sound, but not in any of these areas. Mine is under the helm area down by my feet. I can heare the same sound that all of you are describing but I only hear it when we are in about 3-4 foot seas and the boat comes down off of one wave and crashes into the next. At that piont it makes that sound but only for a breif moment and not every the time just occasionally. I can't get it to make that sound by walking around or jumping in that area... I have had the heater out twice and also had the water pump out to replace it, checked out the whole area down under there, but nothing looked cracked or stressed (very solid looking) I will also check out my decks more closely but I just don't recall hearing that sound anywhere else.

John

 

[rt11002003]

Not having completed purchase of our Ranger Tug I can't address this topic directly from Ranger experience. However, I've experienced it on many other vessels. I've found three causes, spread among a number of vessels. One cause is voids in the layup of glass. Another is delamination, separation of the glass layers. I've also seen/heard the problem where the glass layers were too thin and not properly supported. Any of these causes can result in gelcoat crazing, if serious enough.

In the first two situations I've seen holes drilled and a filler inserted. One vessel had delamination so serious the factory took the vessel, removed the deck and re-decked it. The case where the glass wasn't supported very well was cured by putting a bulkhead under it.

I think the issue has become more common because manufacturers are striving to reduce the amount of resin used, not necessarily for economic reasons, but because it results in a better, lighter, stronger structure. Good technique in applying resin and the use of vacuum bagging minimizes those problems, but they can happen in the best plants.

Gene