Our 2003 C310!

Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
First time you get caught off guard by the wind, you may wish you had a sock.

Ed
I said that I use a sock but launch it out of a turtle. I agree, the turtle is great for short-handed sailing for being able to snuff it in a few seconds. Dump the sheet and pull the sock down-haul to cover the sail. In some races, I have done that a couple of times and left the sock hoisted when short squalls came through the course. Once the wind let up just raise the sock and off you go. At the leeward mark I usually cover the spin and leave it hoisted while I turn upwind with the genoa flying. after on close-haul, I drop the sock. It lets me sail with spin closer the mark and minimizes dead-head time.
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
One more Friday pics, bumpers were left on incase the water got rough
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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Sunday was family day, no sailing just motoring over to our favorite cove to hang on the hook for the afternoon of sun and isolation.

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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Welcome to hot Alabama in the summer time, mid 80s and no wind! Yesterday did some work on the boat while my daughter tried out the canoe by herself for the first time. The training was accomplished with a long line attached to the stern so I could pull her back if she got in trouble. She picked it up fast and after a few hauls back to RoseLeigh she was ready to go on her own. She cruised around the marine and we kept in contact with the VHF, Dad also gave her an air horn in case she needed to warn anyone. Dock neighbors got a kick out of seeing her exploring the area and she said her arms got a work out. We chilled in AC comfort at the dock and ate some snacks and read for a couple of hours. It was a good dock day!

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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Just noticed I missed a few updates. We had RoseLeigh out twice in June and spent a couple of days at the slip doing some preventative maintenance. July looks like a typical hot as heck in Alabama so I've scheduled my first haul out and new bottom paint. Hope to get some good picks and update from this effort.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Just noticed I missed a few updates. We had RoseLeigh out twice in June and spent a couple of days at the slip doing some preventative maintenance. July looks like a typical hot as heck in Alabama so I've scheduled my first haul out and new bottom paint. Hope to get some good picks and update from this effort.
Are you getting the dust storm yet?
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Are you getting the dust storm yet?
Suppose to be this Friday / weekend I think. There is just no wind right now and the humidity and temps are not fun. I had a goal to sail every month last year but July was just not worth it. Getting my boat on the schedule to haul out, dry out for a week and then new bottom paint took priority. Plus we will be gone 3 weeks of July as it is right now.
 
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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Just got back from my marina and they had to sand down the entire bottom due to the paint coating delaminating in several spots, which I noticed last year while cleaning the bottom. Not surprised as the previous owner had never took her out in 5+ years of ownership. What was odd was that there are several spots with blisters which I thought was rare in the 310 hulls. The yard says it is because the paint pulled away and water got behind it for all these years. I knew going into this boat that the hull bottom was an issue and just budgeted and planned for it.

They are also doing a fresh hull buff and polish and replacing my stuffing box flax since they have it out of the water already and it is one less thing for me to worry about. So glad to get it fixed right now and help our local yard with the work during this crazy time we are in. I'll post pics in a bit of the progress.
 
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Sep 29, 2008
1,928
Catalina 310 #185 Quantico
Just got back from my marina and they had to sand down the entire bottom due to the paint coating delaminating in several spots, which I noticed last year while cleaning the bottom. Not surprised as the previous owner had never took her out in 5+ years of ownership. What was odd was that there are several spots with blisters which I thought was rare in the 310 hulls. The yard says it is because the paint pulled away and water got behind it for all these years.
My 2002 hull 185 has never had a hint of a blister. I have had a few spots where paint did not adhere to the barrier coat, but that was likely painting prep:huh: or it could be I don't have to haul out but every couple of years.:biggrin: Blisters AFAIK are pretty rare on Catalinas.
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
From my understanding blisters are a result of improper mixing of resin and hardener. More common in boats built before 1990.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
blisters are a result of improper mixing of resin and hardener.
That may be a part of the problem, but like icebergs it may be only the tip.

Blisters come in many forms.
  • There are the acne break out kind that pepper a part of your hull puffing up the paint that maybe dried a bit quicker than the rest of the bottom paint job. These are typically surface blemishes. Some chip away, or are blasted open during a stern boat wash with a power washer.
  • There are the ones that form small blisters. These bubble up engaging the Gel coat and seem to disappear as the boat sits on the hard for a week or so. You need to see these and mark them when the boat is freshly out of the water. They can be scuffed, filled, over painted with barrier epoxy and bottom painted. Will they come back, possibly but they do not threaten the hull.
  • There there are the Boils. These come in several surface sizes, from quarter to tennis ball to basketball. They exist into the layers of the hull and can be bigger under the surface than they appear. These are a mixture of bad layup, bad resin/hardener, improper wetting of fiberglass or all three. These are the cancer that can sink a boat.
I like the write up by David Pascoe. Hull Blisters on Boats and Yachts - by David Pascoe, Marine Surveyor

Informative and helpful in dealing with this curse that plagues all boats that live in the water, eventually.
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Did something change with the server? My pic are block as too large but checked previous pics were bigger and uploaded fine?

The issue I saw was that the barrier coat was pealing away and caused bumps under. They had to stand all the way down and new barrier and paint that is best for our lake. This boat came from KY Lake originally and looks like it was painted every few years according to log from the first owner. 2nd owner moved to AL and never did any hull work or haul out in 5 years. I elected to skip this last year as I knew it would be fine and I wanted to correct the few comfort issues for family enjoyment. The yard agreed an extra year wasn't going to make a difference and they also kept me at the same price from a year ago even though they were increasing this July. I'm happy and the full sanding and coating removal and repairs look good to me.
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
New bottom came out great and results today out in 15 gusting 18-20 had us 5-6 knts on jib alone.

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Didn't have a lot of time to take pics, we had tons of wind for a change and were really moving very well with just the 135 Jib, saw 6knts by GPS a lot over water, in water varied based on currents a few time 7.8 knts.

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These are the pics the Yard took as they cleaned the bottom and told me they wanted to sand everything down.

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I'm out of order due to computer issues but these are few hours before launch that I took on my wat to work, a few blue spots still needed work and they were still buffing the hull, it came out nice. Several people comment that my boat came out great that were also planning the same work so I know I helped them generate some more work too.
 
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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Some in process pics to show the work.
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These were during the sanding process, they still have a few more hours work to finish removing the old coating but were showing me the spots that bubbled up and needed filling in. no visible damage was seen so that is great news, but based on the previous 2 owners being active on SBO I didn't have any real concerns.

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This looked good and I decided since my estimate went up to just stick with the fixed prop and not upgrade to a folding one. I was happy to see that they used the better trailer for my boat for sure too. I messed up and had left my flag up too so I felt really bad about that oversite on my part.
 
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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Major damage at our marina yesterday, they think it might have been a tornado or micro burst. Luckily RoseLeigh was on B dock outside so when C dock broke and moved into inside B dock boats we took no damage. Just got back from checking her an other then having to reset the charger everything was good.
 

Attachments

Nov 16, 2012
1,037
Catalina 310, 2000, #31 31 Santa Cruz
Some in process pics to show the work.
View attachment 182224View attachment 182225View attachment 182226View attachment 182227View attachment 182228View attachment 182229
These were during the sanding process, they still have a few more hours work to finish removing the old coating but were showing me the spots that bubbled up and needed filling in. no visible damage was seen so that is great news, but based on the previous 2 owners being active on SBO I didn't have any real concerns.

View attachment 182230View attachment 182231View attachment 182232
This looked good and I decided since my estimate went up to just stick with the fixed prop and not upgrade to a folding one. I was happy to see that they used the better trailer for my boat for sure too. I messed up and had left my flag up too so I felt really bad about that oversite on my part.
Did you get a zinc installed on your strut before going back in?

Did they haul you out on the trailer or with a travel lift and slings? Replacing the speed impeller with a blank plug is a good idea, just in case.