Re: catalina27-talk: Perplexing keel problem after long distance hauling

[Harvey Rosenberg]

Hi Jon,
It's not perplexing. I've been there. And I've seen another C-27 with the same problem caused by a grounding.  That area of the keel is very narrow and sometimes will have a void in the fiberglass layup.  That makes the area from the aft end of the keel to the aft end of the sump area very susceptible to cracks from flexing pressure.  The boat has a natural flexibility.  For instance, when my boat leaked while in the water there was a very small leak.  We put it in the slings and filled the sump with water and you could see the flexing of the hull, and the crack widened and water came  out in greater force then originally coming in. 
A professional ground  down  the end of the keel and the hull aft of the keel and repaired it with epoxy. He put a deck plate in the cabin sole aft of the sump and sloshed it and the sump with epoxy.  That sump is very difficult to get at.  The deck plate gives you an idea of whether water is coming from the aft part of the boat or the the aft end of the sump, which would indicate a recurrence of the leak. I also have  painted the area with white antifouling paint to make any cracks more visible.
The repair lasted 17 years and then had to be repeated in a small area.
The second repair was related to a only portion of the 1st repair and was done with polyester.
 I believe my problem occurred during a winter layup when a friend, thinking my stands were loose, over tightened them, causing hull to over flex.  I now use more than 4 stands, never a bow stand and keep them somewhat "relaxed".
The other C-27 had a better idea,  Not only did they grind it down, they built the area up about an inch more on each side of the keel's original layup, resulting in mini keel stub on the aft end of the keel. When I suggested this to my repair guys they poo poo'd me. But I think it's the best possible permanent solution.

Hope this helps.

Harvey Rosenberg C-27TR 1985, #6023 M-18, Stony Point NY   

 

  


------ Original Message ------
Received: Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:57:30 PM EDT
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <catalina27-talk@memberclicks.com>
Subject: catalina27-talk: Perplexing keel problem after long distance hauling

Listees:

 

I have a serious but perplexing problem resulting from the long-distance haul of my 1975 C-27. I need your advice.

 

The boat was hauled from North Carolina to Boston in mid-July, essentially a return home for the boat and for us. Somewhere along the way the boat was damaged. When the boat arrived it was lifted off the flatbed and put in the water. It immediately began to take on water--lots of it. After taking it out of the water, we discovered a crack at the extreme aft end of the keel at the hull (at the point where the hull begins to curve down to shape the narrow end of the keel--perhaps an inch or two down that curve). The crack was only several inches long around that aft end, perhaps four inches long in all, sort of shaped like a "u". The leak showed at the inside at the extreme aft end of the bilge in the passage (under the interior deck) between it and the engine compartment (boat has an A-4). While the pump kept on top of the leak, it did so only barely.

 

A few words about the delivery: The boat had been located on the extreme aft end of the trailer. A power boat was placed on the front. The inside of the boat was an absolute mess. Things that I had carefully stowed were strewn about the boat. Items stowed deep in the after quarter berth were all over the salon floor in the forward part of the boat. It was an amazing sight that got worse when the water seeped up from the bilge. Clearly the boat had a very rough trip.

 

When the boat was first on stands, I was able to ply out some resin from the hull crack and thought maybe I could make a temporary patch to get it across Dorchester Bay to my yacht club. I used Marine Tex. The fix looked good, but as soon as the hydraulic trailer begin to lift it from the stands and blocks, it cracked with a "snap." It had returned. After a short haul on a hydraulic trailer to the club, I removed the broken Marine Tex, opened the crack up as best I could, and we used West (resin, filler) and some cloth and fashioned a repair. When it was sealed on the outside, using a flashlight, I was able to locate what seemed to be a crack of sorts in the bilge in that passage leading to the engine compartment, where it seemed the water had come in. I poured resin into it, hoping it would seep down.

 

Today, when we lifted the boat off the stands to put it in the water, the same thing happened, a snap, and then a 1/8 in wide, several inch long crack appeared. This work was done by someone with a great deal of experience using West resins.

 

What is going on? The bilge looks fine. Four years ago, I employed the Catalina Direct keel bolt upgrade and installed ss lags. I did this only as a precaution because the original bolts looked, well, rusted, but no worse than other Catalinas. My bilge has always been clean and dry. I see nothing amiss there now. There is no Catalina smile on this boat an no other external indications of a problem anywhere along the keel.

 

Jon

C-27 1858