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Catalina 30 Restoration - Hull
Welcome to the hull part of the blog describing the restoration of our Catalina 30
We had identified two problems with the hull when we purchased it:
* Gelcoat Crazing - cracking of the gelcoat (alligatoring)
* The Catalina smile - cracking that appears at the joint of the hull and the keel
Catalina Smile
Catalina Smile
Crazing
Crazing
Neither of these were properly addressed for our first season. We simply patched up the crack with some fiberglass filler and slapped on some bottom paint - postponing the repairs till a later haul out.
Part of the reason for the Catalina smile is improper torque on the keel nuts and/or corroded nut/bolts. Our's was both. This repair is covered on another blog page.
We started by stripping the years of old bottom paint off. This was done by scraping. Very tedious but saved the cost of chemical stripers. It also allowed the cleanup process to be done with a shop vac.
Hull around rudder
The crazing was extensive, covering pretty much the entire bottom below the waterline. The good news was that there were no osmotic blisters. After removing all the layers of bottom paint, the hull was sanded with 36 and 40 grit paper. All the old filler and fiberglass layering was ground out from around the keel to hull joint. After the repair of the floor and the keel nuts, it will be refilled.
With the floor repaired, new nuts installed and torqued, the keel to hull joint can be filled. All the repairs below the waterline were done with epoxy. First the joint was smoothed with fairing compound (epoxy based). Next a layer of fiberglass heavy roving was applied. This was followed by several layers of fiberglass cloth.
Once all the roving and cloth was cured a layer epoxy thickened with colloidal slica and chopped strand was applied. This was followed with epoxy fairing compound until a smooth joint was achieved.
