Scratches on base of bath - new bath required?

[Rollerball]

Only just noticed that my plastic bath has a number of parallel scratches on the base - these start around about the mid point and are heading in the direction of the plughole end of the bath (but aren't at the plughole).

The top one is the most noticeable and is about 17 inches long - not only can I see it quite easily (in the right light) but at one end there's a short sharp 45 degree angle for about an inch. I can quite easily feel this whole scratch with my fingernail.

The next one down is an inch or so away, maybe 8 inches long and is a little shallower.

The final one is an inch or so away from that, is much shorter (about 3 inches) and much shallower, I can barely feel it with my fingernail.

The location is very roughly in the area where I stand up while getting into and out of of the bath.

I've put pressure on the area, even stood on it but there's no movement, in other words these are (currently!) scratches, but I have no idea how they got there. so have no idea how long they have been there - it could be that the light is just right to see them at the moment (the sun is shining for a change ......... ) and so is making them more noticeable.

Not sure if they indicate that the bath is deteriorating, weakening and more likely to actually crack or if I should just use something to fill them, or maybe leave them?

Any ideas please?

Naturally I don't want the bath to develop a leak or, worse still, for me to one day step in it and my foot to go through the bottom .........

The bath is a little over 20 years old.

 

[JohnD]

A new bath is not very expensive, but you have the effort of plumbing it in, and, especially, tiling and sealing it.

Measure it carefully, to see if a new one will be a perfect fit ( this is important if it meets the walls on three sides).

 

[Rollerball]

Thanks. Tempted to get a new bath but only want to go down that route if there's no other option. Does it then sound like my current bath is a lost cause?

 

[JohnD]

Sorry, don't know. Do you have a cat?

The scratches might have been there since a tiler dropped his rubble in the bath and scraped it out.

 

[Rollerball]

Nope, no cat.

I'm wondering if at some time when cleaning the bath some grit got stuck in whatever sponge I was using to do the job. That's the only possible cause I can think of right now.

Also, they are definitely scratches at the moment because when I stand in the bath they don't appear to be trying to open up (in other words, they're not cracks). I just want to make sure that these are merely superficial scratches and aren't indicative of a pending failure. The fact that I can only just feel them with my fingernail (the longest one being the most noticeable) is perhaps a good sign?

Also, the longest crack, while the most noticeable, isn't of the same depth along its length - it too is is barely noticeable in places.

But there is of course that unusual short 45 degree angle at one end.

 

[jj4091]

Try a small area with some brasso or similar if it polishes part of the worst mark out then go for a propiatry polishing compound and polish.