Thursday, May 14, 2015

Hull Bottom Sins

We've been bad to Speakeasy over the years. We being my yard and me. Also our Chicago weather. First, Speakeasy's cradle is made to Catalina Yachts specifications and she's been resting on this cradle each off-season since 1999. It turns out that we've added stress to the hull by positioning the cradle so that the carpet-covered pad was not directly beneath a bulkhead on the aft port quarter. Very cold weather and age made the gelcoat brittle so that it cracked. Poor cradle support added to the problem. 
Cracks in the gelcoat above and below the waterline on Speakeasy. 
The repair required the gelcoat, coremat sublayer, and some fiberglass to be cut away and built back up. In the photo below, material has already be applied to the hollowed-out section and fairing compound applied.
Speakeasy bottom near the port quarter after grinding and fairing. 
The next image shows the completed project. The white and blue (for the water stripe) gelcoat was applied to bring the repaired section to the same thickness as the original. Then, it was polished with cleaning compound. Once the bottom paint is applied, it will be better than new.
The finished repair before the addition of bottom paint.