Cracked counter tops

[Scarlett]

Have any of you with the larger (61 up) motor yachts experienced cracking in your counter tops. I have surveyed or been on 3 70 MY all had cracked countertops in the galleys. What is the solution? Are the cabinet frames not built correctly or is it just flexing when underway or are the floors flexing. Anyone have experience with this? Thanks, John

[RonNP]

Hi John
I've been in some pretty tough seas....you've been on board for one rough ride and I don't have any cracks in my counter tops. I have Corian in the galley and in the bathrooms. I guess it just holds up really well as its a plastic polymer and not natural marble or granite.

[CTdave]

Not that I can cure why the cracking happened, I'm a builder and when the guys install granite, marble or any type of counter top, they mix up a resin to fill the 45 deg or straight seams with grindings of the original material. Once hardened, they polish it and you can't see a thing. If it's an ongoing issue, I'd fiberglass the underside. The pros do that too on materials prone to cracking.

[dottieshusband]

I assume you are talking about the original Formica laminate? I have a crack in the laminate near where the counter storage/garbage bin lid is. It runs fore to aft and does not appear to be from flex. I'm guessing different coefficients of expansion between the wood substrates and laminate. We have quite humid summers here, the winters are very dry. Wood, even plywood is humidity sensitive.

[Scarlett]

Ron, seems to only be in the galley up boats and it appears to be in the original hard surface material Hatteras used in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Looks like a type of Corian material. The cracks seem to be in approximately the same place. Maybe just a coincidence and these are the only 3 boats that have the problem. Like the idea of glassing the underside. Thanks, John

[Briankinley2004]

Curious if its possibly cracking from sunlight since it is only on galley up models? Or possibly a bad run of laminate. Is the color the same on all the ones cracked?

[Scarlett]

Interesting you say that about the color because they were all white. You might be right about a bad run of material, hard to tell.

[dottieshusband]

My galley blinds are always closed. So I doubt it's sun related..heat, maybe.. hot wood expands differently than hot plastic.

[Fanfare]

Exposure to alcohol?

[dottieshusband]

Exposure to alcohol?

Absolutely, but the crack is still there when I sober up! I see this type crack in aircraft aluminum panels and window plastic when it's not radiused enough. Usually just stop drill it. This one eminates from the corner of that storage bin. Eventually, I'll overlay it with another material.