Topside and Correcting the Keel Slam

The ugly crush point

Correcting the smashed keel turned out to be fairly easy.  Getting all the water out of the hull was the real problem.  As soon as I figured out I had a damaged hull, I punched a hole in the dead space just forward of the keel housing and waited for the water to stop dripping out.   18 days later and I was still waiting.

Other CM owners said the dead space was an after-thought or the remnant of a design change.  Either way, it's a point of failure and is usually fills with water.

On a whim I stuffed a shop towel in the hole with the thought that it will sop-up any water standing in the bottom of this area.  What I did not expect is that it would act as a siphon and suck all the water out of the hull in about a day.

After picking  up some waterproof epoxy from West Marine, and sanding/scraping the remaining loose fiberglass from this area, here is the tentative outcome.  It's six sheets thick and hard as a rock.  I'll sand it down one more time and put some gel coating on it.

What I don't have is a picture of the hole I punched in the cabin floor.  This gave me the means to push air through this space, which in hindsight helped very little.  The one benefit to this hole was after glassing over the outside hole, I simply poured epoxy into the hole until it overflowed....no more dead space.  It took about 1/3 gallon.  It was not the best use of the stuff, but I had extra and it would have gone to waste eventually.

Paint Work Results

Prepwork wiht 3M tape.  The corners were tough.



Forward





Port side prior to pulling the tape off

Pop-top, completed and rails back on.

Bow Roller Installation

I had some scrap steel laying about that I had intended to use to build a bow guide.  I envisioned welding up a tripod with a roller at the apex. 

After putting my mind to it, I realized all I needed was to drill holes in the proper spots and I could bolt it all together without welding anything.    Of course, I won't have my sigh my relief until after I try to get it back on the trailer the first time. That will be the test to see if I set the height correctly.  The roller I choose may also be too narrow which will force me to rethink this entire configuration.

Version 1.  Notice something wrong?  After I had it on, I realized that unless I'm 100% perfect getting the nose lined up, I'm more likely to stab a hole in the bow than help land this thing.  I took an grinder to the angle iron and cut those edges off.  I also cut new spacers to hold the support bar to the center.  I don't want any unnecessary twisting going on here.

A little primer and paint, and it's a done deal.

Also note that the upright support is not completely straight.  I anticipate some stress on this construction.  Moving the angle back a bit will lessen the possibility of a failure.....I hope.