Hull crack

[blindsmokey]

I put my newly acquired boat in the water this weekend for the first time and discovered there is a crack near where the cable runs through the keel. My questions are these.... Is it repairable and if so which is the best fiberglass to use, and does anyone have an idea as to what would cause these cracks in the first place. The only thing I have come up with is that the bunks are not adjusted properly and the weight of the boat is resting on the keel.

 

[Megaro76]

I have similar cracks in the bilge area but they do not leak....are yours leaking?

 

[blindsmokey]

I guess I should have included that . Yes it is leaking.

 

[ilance]

Interested in seeing more pics. My own project has shown a number of bilge cracks......but nothing like that. Mine were "cosmetic"......between liner and hull. I've plugged three thru-hulls so far......(a PO was kinda hole-saw happy)

My initial guess is you should look at how your boat is sitting on its trailer. Most of the "wear" on mine is due to gorillas bouncing on cheesy thin plywood laminates inside and on deck.......that, and many miles on a trailer. My experience is that the centerboard is just not the place to have all the weight of the boat resting.......and my father grilled me to never hang it from the winch while trailering. It gets eased onto a wood pad once the boat is on the trailer.

Contingent upon the more experienced Catalina 22 owner call: I'd grind it, and epoxy laminate that like anything else. "Fiberglass" is dead to me.......I use the term only generically to refer to my plastic boat. My recent experience with epoxy has foresworn me from anything else. I really like the Total Boat stuff from Jamestown.......but everybody seems to have their faves.

Just don't dive all the way in the rabbit hole......my few "repairs" are killing my chance to be on the water right now.....

More pics! We will get you through this! You got yours wet, at least.......my summer progress has been SLOOOOOOW, because it's too darned hot.

 

[CloudDiver]

That's pretty gnarly... I hated working on the inside of that curve (from the bottom) sanding out the old bottom paint.

First thing, get your bunks set correctly so your hull is not miss shaped as you do the repair. The hull should sit on the bunks squarely with the keel floating just 2 or three inches above any rollers or resting pads. A full 8 feet of bunk board should cradle the hull and they need to curve upward just on aft couple of feet. The hull should not oil-can anywhere if you have it set right. When the hull is sitting square on the bunks you can lower the keel a few inches to rest on the pad or whatever and take strain off the winch/cable, etc.

Once you have that sorted out, you'll want to use epoxy and some fiberglass tape (6 inch wide) and a little matte to build up some bulk. Grind the crack out a little wider then use an orbital sander the 'wrong' way, which is to edge the sander and take an aggressive bite... taper or 'feather' the edge of the crack.
Its ok to cut right through on the first cut to open the crack, just careful with the sander not to open it up more. Use some painters tape on the bottom to seal it up for when you start glassing. Not really even necessary to sand off the bottom paint, just scuff it clean with 80 grit and wipe with alcohol so the tape sticks well. From the top, lay in some skinny (1 inch) strips of glass tape down the middle as a first layer, then some glass matt, then wider strips of glass tape. I would use the quick hardener so I could build a few layers of glass and have it gel up and then be able to start more layers, that way there won't be sanding between coats. You should build up glass in the valley you created that is 3 to 4 inches on either side of the crack and the same beyond the ends, and to the same overall thickness of the hull. Since you are working from the inside it does not have to be pretty or faired, just use a roller to keep air bubbles out.

Looks like you need to chip/grind out what looks like the remains of the old wood battery tray. Also, similar to crack repairs on other materials, it helps to drill a hole at the ends of the crack to prevent it from spreading (but trust me, the epoxy/glass repair will be stronger than the original hull).

 

[blindsmokey]

Thank you. That helps a lot.

 

[CloudDiver]

Thank you. That helps a lot.

Do some internet shopping for fiberglass tape and matte. 6 Inch wide tape can be expensive, just get 3 inch tape and overlap it or just buy a yard or two that comes in a package and cut it into strips yourself. You don't have buy the expensive quart kit of West System epoxy either, there are many good epoxy kits out there from Aero Marine, System 3, MASS to name a few. You should be able to find a good epoxy kit in a reasonable sized package. Don't forget a small epoxy lam roller (looks like a bunch of round blades stacked up like change) to get air bubbles out. If you buy a quart sized kit of anything you will probably have left-over which is good for future projects or repairs, just try to get an epoxy that has the mini-pump system for easy and accurate measuring.
If you have a friend locally, maybe someone into boats like you or into fine woodworking, they may have a vacuum pump and be able to pull a vac seal on that repair... that would be awesome (but not totally necessary).

 

[blindsmokey]

Ok. Thanks again.

 

[ilance]

The "more experienced" just weighed in!

 

[blindsmokey]

So I got to the point I was going to repair the crack in my hull and ran into an unexpected surprise. There is a hollow void in the keel trunk. Is this normal. I stuck a wire in it and it seems to run approx. an inch to the bow and stern. I don't know if it goes further or if my wire is just getting stuck. I raised the trailer bunks and I can now see the hull crack from the bottom. I guess my question is do I open the void to fill it from the top. Is the void a result of poor workmanship and likely to cause problems in the future ? Do I raise the boat some how and fix the crack from the bottom or a combination of both ?

 

[CloudDiver]

The crack that you show in the pictures is just the hump that allows the training edge of the keel to tuck up into the hull just a little. How you have sanded and feathered it back is the correct approach, although you might want to use an orbital sander to smooth it out a little more, create a more gradual taper that extends about 2 more inches out on each side.
You should absolutely fix this from the top. Just use some painters tape (2 inch wide) to seal the crack from the bottom so resin does not drip out all over the place. Walmart has packs of fiberglass cloth, about a yard of 6 or 8 oz that is folded up. That is plenty of cloth that you can cut into strips 4 to five inches wide, a few that are 3 wide, and some 2 wide, etc. Laying the narrow strips in first and gradually moving to wider strips on top will effectively fill the taper you have created and end up flat.
This is a link to a one quart kit of System 3 Epoxy that is plenty to wet out this repair, and a high quality resin at a reasonable price; https://www.amazon.com/System-Three...qid=1501266600&sr=1-1&keywords=system+3+epoxy

You can get away without a fiberglass laminate roller. When working a small area repair you can use disposable chip brushes and wet out the material, only do a few ounces of resin at a time. You can effectively brush the resin to saturate the cloth and not have any air bubbles, laying 4 or 5 layers of cloth. Let it kick off and get firm but do not wait for it to fully cure over night; as soon as it is firm mix up another couple ounces of resin and lay down 3 or 4 strips of fiberglass. Do this in stages until you have laid up a satisfactory number of fiberglass layers in the repair. What you have accomplished is to laminate the glass and get a good chemical bond between the stages without having to sand fully cured resin to get a mechanical only bond and/or remove amine blush.

 

[CloudDiver]

The gap you are talking about, the last picture I presume, should not be a structural defect... That is where a part of inner hull liner meets with the hull and is glued together.
Can you get a couple pics of the same area but back up the shot so I can see more of the area? I'm having trouble understanding exactly where this location is in your boat. If you can post a pic of that I will compare it my hull and see if I have the same gap. Chances is are it is totally harmless and you don't need to fill it. If you did need to fill it there is a simple method. While it may not be structurally necessary I will venture to say that at any place where you can improve the bond between the hull liner and the hull you are increasing the overall strength of the monolithic structure (and allowing fewer gaps for water to go and mold to grow).

 

[pclarksurf]

@CloudDiver -- I "think" that last picture gap is actually looking past the keel itself into the trunk and showing the crack from the exterior... I think you're dead on with grind/taper/glass from the top-- not a big enough exposure in the water side of the trunk to attempt anything from the underside.

 

[blindsmokey]

pclarksurf is correct. The last picture is a view into the keel trunk from the exterior. The exterior crack is approx 6" forward of where the keel cable goes through the hull.
@CloudDiver after reading your last reply I think I have only cut through the inner liner. I can see what I am assuming to be the hull through the crack. I will need to cut out more of the inner liner to see the actual crack in the hull. I measured the crack in the inner liner and it is approx. 5" from the keel cable.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

For what it is worth the Catalina 22 Sport trailer will work beautifully for the standard Catalina 22 swing keel by Road King. Sits low on the trailer. Ron Frisosky and I designed that trailer. If interested, call Road King in Asheville, NC and ask for Phylliss and if you need to talk with an engineer, talk with Larry. Sadly Ron died a few years ago and for the old timers, he was well known also as a respected Catalina rep. whose intregity was above reproach.