Keel bed lamination

[Rod]

I own a 1977 Cat 30 and the keel joint keeps opening. I have had the keel rerfastned and my boat yard assures me that this is a standard problem on Catalina's, and, not to worry. He told me that the keel bed had a plywood core that has probably rotted allowing some compression and flex. Is it true that Catalina cored the keel mount with plywood? If that is true it's quite cheesy and ultra cheep on Catalina's part. Can I fill the crack with 5200 and fair it out. 5200 will allow flex where fiberglass fairing won't. Has anyone tried this?

 

[LaDonna Bubak - Planet Catalina]

Don't worry

I can't say about whether Catalina used plywood but I can tell you that it is definitely common for C30s to have this happen. It is not structural and there really isn't too much you can do to fix it. You can try 5200 if you want but all it will do is let you think it isn't there.A couple of different surveyors I know have told me quite frankly not to bother with fixing it. I've seen several C30s on the hard, each one with this "problem". Take your yard manager's advice & ignore it. Your keel won't drop off, especially since you have the peace of mind with a freshly refastened keel!You can go to the archives and find several discussions of this same topic several times over the past few months. LaDonna

 

[Steve]

keel bed

I used the 5200 at the begining of the 99 season. When I pulled my boat out in the late fall, I found that the joint was tightly filled and no problems.Also, My keel bed was in poor condition(wet wood when I drilled into it)and I was unable to snug up my keel bolt nuts. I removed my keel nuts and washers and drilled four 5/8 holes 1/8 of an inch around the bolt. I filled holes with epoxy and once dry replaced the washers and nuts and was able to tighten the nuts to factory spec. I think this will hold for a couple of years only. Next step will be to fabricate a 1/4" stainless steel plate with holes to match the bolt pattern. Good luck