I had my cradle rebuilt after I purchased my 42. The new supports were made of steel tubing which hold the boat stands in place. The fabricator didn't put drain holes in the bottoms of the tubes where they're welded to the frame. After several years, one of the steel tubes filled up with enough water for the top of the column to sit just below the bottom of one of the stands inside the tube. When the water froze it literally pushed the pad up the side of my boat. One of the yard guys said I was lucky it was a forward pad with enough room to slide along the hull. He recalled a similar situation where a pad pushed right through the hull.
Never underestimate the power of ice. From: Marek Dziedzic via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Sent: Monday, November 7, 2022 8:53 AM To: Stus-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: Marek Dziedzic <dziedzi...@hotmail.com> Subject: Stus-List Cracked spreader This is probably common knowledge, but it helps repeating. When you lay the mast down for winter, as a lot of us do here in the North, make sure that your spreaders hang "upside down", i.e., the open part that attaches to the mast points down. Otherwise, water can accumulate in the spreaders and if it freezes, it can crack the ends. Even here, in Ottawa, where regularly crack -30, many boat owners forget to take that precaution. Btw. Water can accumulate (and freeze) in strange places. E.g. boarding ladders, pulpits, stantions, spreaders (we had all of those cracked after a winter on some boats in our Club). Marek 1994 C270 Legato Ottawa ON
