Dear community,
We, Franziska and Tobias, are new owner of a Catalina 36 Mk1,5 from 1994. Someone was nice enough to bring this boat to Europe probably when it was first bought, so we are currently living in Germany. Actually we are already living on that Catalina since in July our accommodation was destroyed by the flood.
Our plan was to refit the yacht and liveaboard starting in 1,5 years but sometimes everything turns out differently….
Still We hope to be back in our apartment at the end of this years so we can start full refit and for that our hope lies in you, guys.
We have a bunch of things on the list, like repairing our hardtop dodger, radial drive wheel, Delamination in the saloon and getting everything nice an cozy.
But now we found something new.
The forward keel bolt has cracks around it.
No water is coming in and the general condition of all keel bolts seems pretty good. So we are wondering where those are coming from. Are those indications for a Catalina smile or worse?
We are planing to haul out our boat after we are back in the apartment and when it’s getting warm enough to work outdoors so probably march.
Thanks for your help and all the best.
Hm. We have some similar stress cracks in our hull, though not at the keel bolt. Likely due to over-tightening or an impact with a rock, or being lowered too aggressively onto a cradle. You could use a Dremel tool to open the cracks up a bit and fill with gel coat to monitor over time, but I really doubt the cracks are a problem -- the rest of the keel bolts are holding the keel in place. The Catalina smile only occurred in the early to mid 1980's vessels due to the use of a piece of plywood under the fore-most keel bolt that rotted away. If you have the boat hauled out you can check for a crack around the front of the keel, but I really doubt you will see one. Let's see what others have to say, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Kevin Lenard
"Firefly"
'91 C-36 Mk. "1.5" Tall Rig, Fin Keel, Hull #1120, Universal M-35 original (not "A" or "B")
CBYC, Scarborough, Lake Ontario, Canada
Thanks Kevin, that doesn't sound too bad.
what do you mean with monitoring over time? When it's filled with gel coat how will we see differences?
we are also excited to here more opinions on that topic.