Dry Dock - upward bulge in cabin sole

[Trescool]

I finally went to see my Catalina 270 which was dry-docked about a month ago. I noticed that the cabin sole had an upward bulge with stress fractures around the opening for the bilge on all four corners.

No marina folks were around to talk to about this problem. I am assuming that when they placed the boat down, they stacked too many blocks under the keel and that placed an undue weight burden on the keel. I plan to contact the marina on Monday.

I am now worried about the structural integrity of my boat. Is the boatyard responsible for this? Should I require them to pay for a professional survey of my boat?

Does anyone have any other information about this problem or suggestions?

Thank you!
Jim

[sailingdog]

Never having been on a Catalina 270, I don't know how the cabin sole and the hull are connected. Do you have photos?

[judika]

It is my understanding that when properly blocked, the keel should support the boat. The stanctions are primarily used to keep the boat upright and have little if any weight bearing support. Perhaps the yard let your boat down too fast and it bumped the blocks. I hope it wasn't droped.

[Leither]

I have never heard of this problem before, but others may be able to comment on your particular situation with a Catalina. In general terms, however, a boat should be able to rest on its keel. This may well happen as a matter of course (eg when "drying out" for maintenance or repairs or when inadvertently being aground on a falling tide). Where I come from, in the East coast of Scotland, drying harbours are common and boats have to rest on their keels in between tides (sometimes up against the harbour wall), so I certainly would not expect this to be a problem. From my point of view, it would point to a structural integrity problem (sorry!) but wait to see what others have to say.

Stuart

[ChuckA]

Is there any distortion visible from outside the hull?

I'm assuming the boat is supported on keel blocks and boat stands. The keel blocks support most of the weight of the boat and the boat stands are primarily there for balance, not to support the weight of the hull.

If the distortion is around the cabin sole, not the hull, the problem may not have anything to do with the way she is supported. Did you have a lot of water in the bilge that froze? That could have distorted the cabin sole.

You can check the Brownell website site, maker of boat stands, with guidelines on how to's and do's and don'ts for using the stands.

Some of their key guidelines include:

Use blocking along centerline of the boat to rest all the weight on.
Use a V-Stand under the bow of all fin keel sailboats.

If this is truly a problem with the blocking or stands, you want to get her properly supported immediately.

[k1vsk]

Some Catalinas are infamous for having a wooden mast step which, in combination with the force of the boat's weight resting on the keel with a rotten step which is inevitable, might cause this malady. Should be easy enough to inspect.

[r.furborough]

There are some Catalinas, the 30 is one I am familiar with, that have a fin keel that is angled. That is that when blocked correctly on the hard, to be level, the front of the fin keel requires more blocking than the back. If this is not done the whole weight of the boat is just on the back end of the fin keel. This normally results in the 'Catalina Smile' which is a cracking of the laminate forward end of the fin keel where it meets the hull. I have not heard of this causing an issue with the cabin sole though.

Maybe, with a rotten mast step, as K1vdk suggested, or a rotten bulkhead or failed tabbing on a bulkhead plus bad blocking and stand placement by the yard, i.e. stands not placed where the hull is supported by a bulkhead, could lead to sufficient hull distortion to cause the cabin sole to buckle.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by judika

It is my understanding that when properly blocked, the keel should support the boat. The stanctions are primarily used to keep the boat upright and have little if any weight bearing support.

That is correct.

Jim

[Trescool]

Here are a few photos of the problem click here. I could not show the bulge of the interior sole with a photo though.

[GaryHLucas]

In the second photo from the top, on the left, it DOEs appear that your keel is pushing up into the hull! In 1982 I owned a 1976 Hunter 27. When they went to put her in the water for the season the called me and said the keel was falling off, and it was! The whole bottom of the boat was delaminated in the area around the keel. What a job fixing it. I had to remove every stringer in the bottom of the boat and about 50 lbs of glass, then rebuilte everything, doubling the stringers, adding large stainless plates etc. The boa sailed so MUCH better afterwards it was amazing! I must have had one of those tilting keels.

I sold the boat to a guy who sailed it up and down the east coast from NJ to Florida. Eight years later he calls me, and says that he heard the bilge pump running for the first time, that he never had any water in the bilge, only dust. I suggested that the rubber padding I put under the stainless plates may have dry rotted. He called back a few days to tell me that it was exactly the cause and replacing the rubber fixed it.