As a preface, I'm a TOTAL NOVICE. I just got my very first boat of any kind, a 1988 Mac21. Other than the mostly cosmetic issues, the only major thing that I noticed after I picked it up was a small, 2 inch crack in the hull. It's located just fore of the slot where the keel swings into. In the picture, the bow is to the left. Does that part of the hull go strait into the cabin? The previous owner had the boat for about 2 years and said that he noticed the crack when he got it, but it didn't cause him any problems at all. Is that BS or should I make a stink about it. I only paid a few hundred for it, so if I need to spend some money on repairing the crack, I think it MAY be worth it.
The simple answer is anything below the waterline is a must fix. As for how to best go about this I am not the right person to answer this, but it looks like fiberglass work. There are others on this form which are far better to explain this. if you only paid a few bucks for the boat keep it, learn from it, have some fun, then move on later. All boats are going to cost us, if we can learn from them and have some fun it is money well spent.
Hard to tell from pics but only way to really find out is get under there and start digging round. If you have a dremel or rotary tool start by grinding away little by little any dark or rotten looking FG until it starts looking clean and solid. I say use a dremel or similar because it’s easy to go too far too quick with a grinder. For a light day sailor if the damage isn't extensive grab some fibre bondo from your local auto shop and fill any voids then get a few pieces of woven roving and epoxy resin and lay small piece then consecutively larger pieces (first one could overlap damaged edges by say 2" then another at say 4" I'd prob stop there but could do another if you felt the need, depending on damage). Give everything a good sanding before you glass and paint or gel coat when done. Your first boat for a few hundred bucks it doesn’t have to look pretty being on underwater. Also if you plan to beach it, you could throw a keel guard on and really cover up any ugliness and really protect it, IF it will cover depending on where the damage is. And with the woven roving, squeegee the epoxy on/out and you’ll get a really easy to finish layer each time. Most of this stuff you can get pretty cheap at auto stores rather than twice as much at marine stores.
Thanks for the replies! I definitely agree that I'll keep the boat to learn and then upgrade later on. Thanks also for the tips on repairing. I've worked with fiberglass before so I'm confident I get fix it and actually have it look decent, but cosmetics are not very important to me at this stage.
