[C38] While we are talking about bottoms

[Steve Smolinske]

This last month while working on the bottom we had a scare in the range of a couple of cracks spanning about 4 feet exactly on the centerline between the keel and bow, it was 1/4 to 1/2 inches deep and a 1/4 wide at its widest point.  When we poked inside we bottomed out on hard firm material and it was not like you find when you open up a blister.   Needless to say when we discovered it all I could hear was the sound of a cash register going Ca ching Ca Ching.  Ill send a photo under a different post as it is on my cell phone.  
 
The good news was there was a surveyor working on the next boat and he came over and looked at it and said dont worry the mold was most likely hinged at this point and they used lots of filler to fair the hull.  I sent the photo to Catalina and they said the same thing.   The molds were hinged on center, and since the knife blade bottomed out on hard material all we needed to do was fill, fair and paint.  We used Fiberall to fill the deepest portions then Dolphin Glaze to fair, barrier coat and paint.  
 
On another note we worked on the Catalina Smile and as we opened up the crack to get to lead and glass then boom a big hole in the resin appeared running from about 4 inches aft of the leading edge to the leading edge. you could stick your finger into it.  It was  a great big air bubble, we fillled it with epoxy until it squirted out the small hole at the leading edge and then sanded it fair.  We repaired the smile last year and it held well on the starboard side, the port was not as bad last year so we didnt get very aggressive with it and it didnt hold up like the other side.  What seemed to work last year on starboard was to sand down to lead and glass, then we used a non-talc filler so as not to absorb water, then glassed over the area with heavy mat running well past the crack fore and aft, then the normal fairing and painting.  There have been lots of threads discussing the cause of the smile ranging  from loose keel bolts to how she is blocked when put on the hard,  one of the many engineers on my crew feels that adjusting the backstay helps cause it too, makes sense as given fiberglass or lead my money is on the lead not bending first.   
 
Steve
#312 Peregrine
Seattle
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