Cabin: Plastic Headliner cracks

[firefisher]

I looked at a 2000 265 express today. Clean boat but the cabins plastic headliner was cracked in several places. I inspected the hull, didn't see any damage. The only thing I can figure that did it was hull flex. It was cracked at the top entrance and over the bunk area. (really bad). Like someone kicked at it several times to do that amount of damage. Owner says he never noticed it before. ???????????
Any owners have this problem?
Any ideas how it could of happened?
What would that cost to replace? Its all one piece with a seam close to the middle thats sealed with silicon.

 

[gradyfish22]

I have seen the plastic part of the headliner seperate from the canvas material part. From flew and pounding, the two parts often seperate but can easily be fixed. When we looked at some 265's before we purchased ours, I noticed a few had that problem. Cracks are not normal, and probably means the owner smacked something into it. Since the headliner is one solid piece, it should flex a little, but not crack.

 

[firefisher]

Do all the 265 express models from 2000 - 2005 have plastic headliners?

 

[doublehaul]

cracked headliner

I recently discovered a huge crack in my headliner in a 2005, 282, it is at least 3 feet long and .25 inch wide.. Looks like a stress fracture similar to the look of a windshelid stress crack.
Any one have a similar issue??

 

[Stonewall]

Here's the situation I had.

In June 2004 I bought a new 30 Marlin (2004) I ran it for the rest of the summer and fall and layed it up for the winter in late Nov 2004. We had a weird winter that year (2004-05)with a lot of usually warm days followed by real cold nights. In the spring (early March) I went down one day just to check things out. I went into the cabin and noticed a crack in the plastic headliner about 2.5' long and 1/4" wide that started on the port side just above the galley and ran diagonally towards the starboard bow. I called the dealer who called the factory. They came to my marina, loaded the boat on a trailer and took it to the shop. They did a plastic weld on the crack and repaired it to the point were it was absoulutely invisible. The factory claimed that the headliner needs to float so that it can expand and contract with the changes in the temperature and conditions. Apparently this one (and maybe yours) was not installed properly. I sold the boat a year later to a Captain in Turkes and Caicos when I upgraded to the 330. I have not had any problems with this one......

 

[uncleboat]

I have a similar crack in my 2001 232. I never noticed it and am sure it was never there until one day it seem to magically appear. I attributed the crack to stress but would like to repair it as well. Anyone know if the plastic welding is a 'do it yourself' job??

 

[fishingFINattic]

Mine is cracked in a few places on my 265.... doesnt bother me a bit.
Tim

 

[megabytes]

I have a nasty crack about 1 foot long on the port side just ahead of the valance. GW has sent my dealer a repair and it will be fixed at n/c. I'm just trying to pick a week that I can't go down so the boat won't be in the shop when the offshore forecast is finally decent on a weekend.

GW stepped up to the plate on this even though the boat is out of warranty.

 

[doublehaul]

uncleboat and megabytes
Thanks for weighing in on this. I think that this is a common problem and I know that there is a fix that grady has for this and according to some owners the fix is good. Grady has dealer training for this repair.
Would like to hear from other owners regarding this problem. i am somewhat surprised that there are so many owners out there that have experienced this problem.

 

[Gman25]

Mine cracked as well. When my dealer asked grady about it they sent the dealer a kit along with a video on how to repair it. Like stonewall said its some sort of plastic weld. They want to do one or two repairs on scrap before they do mine, so im not the guiney pig.

2005 300 Marlin w/F250's

 

[eppem]

i have a small crack in the headliner of my 265 around the hatch..i never noticed it...someone who was taking a nap did! Like tim siad, doesn't bother me.

 

[Fishtales]

Hi,
This is fairly common in areas where there is a lot of thermal expansion and contraction as the headliner is a very thin molded piece of plastic in lieu of that monkey fur of the 80s and early 90s.
I had two small stress cracks on my previous 282. Have not noticed any on my current one, but they could appear.
The dealer fixed the 282 with some type of heat gun. Farily simple fix and once you id the stress areas and repair, you shouldn't have any further issues.

 

[gradyfish22]

It should be able to be fixed using plastic welding, not sure how hard it is though, I'd leave it to a pro honestly. It will fix it structurally, not sure about how it will look though. I have the plastic inserts in my aft corners, one had 3 cracks and we had a friend who owns a plastics shop repair it, they are great now, but you can visably see the cracks yet. I'm not too worried though, the price was right. I think that to do it you may need to remove it so they can get to both sides, otherwise it will not completely fix it. I'm sure if I was paying he could have matched the color as well. I'm not sure of any other way to really fix them other then to have new pieces molded and made, or to order replacements. You could carpet over the old piece and make it look pretty if you are worried about the looks. Mine have not cracked, and hopefully do not, but the seam of where the headliner and the fiberglass meets is starting to seperate slightly, just needs some chaulking I think.

 

[Kenlahr]

What about the molding around the fiberglass edges? Just about every molding corner on my 282 has a degree of cracking. It is really bad along the opening going into the aft cabin.

 

[plymouthgrady]

cracks

The only cracks I like to see on my boat are from thongs. Are cracks that rampant on Grady's? Is it model specific? Has Grady addressed the issue? I'm actually surprised to hear how many responses there are confirming cracks. :?

 

[HDGWJOE]

Well... I had this problem on my 2003 282 and being I've had the 2005 Marlin for almost 4 yrs and have been in some bad hard pounding seas I thought I escaped the problem... BAD ASSUMPTION... when I opened my boat after winter storage my ceiling liner was cracked really bad in the head with cracks spreading out into the cabin. A large C shaped crack started above the starboard window and ran over to the head wall about in the area of the left foreward corner. Inside the C three other cracks ran above the head wall out into the cabin. Fortunately they stopped about 6-12"s into the cabin area. I looked around and found another unrealted 4" crack starting directly above the outside corner of the TV compartment. All of the head cracks seem to originate at one place in the middle of that C crack... most of the ceiling is free floating except one spot... right where the cracks start in that C. That part of the ceiling feels like it is cemented to whatever is above it... which should only be part of the helm station dash directly behind the electronics box. In my case it had to be temperature related... not any kind of flexing in bad seas. Hope this doesn't become an ongoing problem.

 

[Legend]

I have a 2004 Sailfish and let my dealer know about cracks in the liner last fall. They took care of it no charge and it loooks perfect. I could not even find where the crackes were Hopefully it is permanent

 

[Shockwave61]

Headliner Cracks

I have a 2002 265 Grady.
Last spring (2008), for the first time, I noticed several large cracks on my headliner. Was told by dealer that Grady-White had a bad resin mix around the year that my boat was built. Grady-White instructed the dealer on how to repair the headliner. They did a great job and it looked like new. Ran the boat all last season with no problems. This spring, while preparing the boat for the season, the mechanic notices a new large crack. The dealer has been in contact with Grady and I am waiting to hear back on how they plan to proceed with a new fix.

 

[megabytes]

Bummer Joe.

Mine cracked as well but GW took care of it as usual.

 

[HDGWJOE]

Cummins... I'm hoping they do the same for me... based on replies above sounds like they are honoring this for any year boat that had the plastic liner. Like Legend said... when they fixed my 282 I couldn't see any indication there was ever a crack.

Shockwave... sorry to hear you are going through this twice on the same boat.

Do any of you guys know if this repair can be done at the dock or do they have to haul the boat? Reason I ask is my dealer is 120mi from my house one way. Every trip up there, round trip, is 140mi by car and 100+ by water. Plus I need somebody to pick me up at the dealer when I drop off the boat and again when I go back to pick it up. The whole event will run me over $500. So my preference is to ask them to come to my marina.