[sluggo]

TIA my boat has a hard top (06 Tiara Sovran) it also has hatches that open as well. One faces forward, the other aft (when open) . I noticed in the forward facing hatch there are some cracks behind the hatch, most likely they were caused because of the wind pushing the hatch back and putting pressure on the top. Any way, how best to fix these? Would you drill/rout them out and fill will glass or gel coat? My tech suggests there is some sort of self leveling paint that would fill the crack and that would be that. For a temporary fix, I just caulked them, its on the hard top and no one sees it. What are your thoughts? TIA

[jclark003]

I typically like to work with paint if it's something like Awlgrip (which can also be brushed) but unless there is a tape line or boarder nearby, such as a non-skid edge it's going to be an obvious repair and will probably never look right.

Without pictures it's hard to make a call but more than likely I would be talking to a good gel guy. They can sand out the cracks and usually match the gel Pretty close. A small repair like that shouldn't be too expensive. And if you don't do it right you will pay for it at time of sale anyway.

More importantly maybe find out why it's cracking in the first place. I would first run a moisture meter around the hatch to make sure the coring isn't wet, causing a loss in structure. If so then you may be getting into structural/glass work.