A CRACK in our KEEL?!?! - Ep.38 S3 

Suggest at every haul out to visit the keel bolts, take one Nut off at a time, put anti corrosion grease on the stud, then put Nut back on and torque to specification......very few Catalina owners do it....only to regret it.........

Allie just brightens my whole day!!! She's simply the best.....i smile whenever she comes on...wish they'd release a vid a week instead of one every other week...its too long in-between!!!!.lol...love the show

Well done. Very enjoyable clip. It's nice to see video of the PNW cruising grounds. Arguably the best cruising in the world. I have always luved the Sceptre 41. Built in Canada and a true world cruiser. Regards. AL C&C 35 Mk3 Vancouver, BC.

Nice work guys! Well done 👍🏼

Fair Winds !!

Great job guys keep up the good work cheers

I owned and ran a boatyard in the Northeast for 35 + years. The crack in the keel sump joint is not unusual in fact it’s quite common. Tighten up on the keel bolts, grind a 10” path around the entire keel / sump joint 5” on the keel 5” on the sump. Apply 2 layers of biaxil glass with west system Fare the glass with epoxy faring compound. Your back in business. On your video you show the problem with not starting ? When you have a no start situation you need to shut off the engine intake seacock, when turning over the engine the raw water pump is pumping water into the exhaust pot / muffler, if you turn the engine over long enough it will fill the exhaust pot and the water will back up right into the engine through the exhaust valves. This sounds impossible ? Right ? Believe it or not I saw this problem more times then I care to remember. Good luck !

We have the same transducer hooked up to a Vulcan MFD, and love it. Hope you’re enjoying the wealth of info about when you’re about to run aground like we are. Within about a week of having it we ran aground in a harbor, sorta on purpose (it was a dock at a bar and we... needed to dock there), and it was a perfect moment to calibrate the offset so now we know exactly how much is under the keel (so 0ft. MEANS 0ft.!!!).

Watching from the Uk 🇬🇧 Wishing everyone safe sails forever and longer. 🌟⛵️☀️🌍

Ya, great tip!

Great episode guys! Awesome to see the progress!!

That damn Catalina Smile!

Smart plug = smart decision

That’s not that bad a fix. Could just be the attachment bolts need tightening. Hey perfect time to inspect and repair them if needed… maybe a little faring too for an increase in performance.Hey, losing a keel is a real bad breakdown because your vessel is a gonna go turtle upside down. A real problem.

Great video! Nice work guys!

Is that Dewalt a good random orbital sander? I'm getting prepared to sand my hull down to the glass. Don't want to over or under buy. Thanks!

The crack... this is a standard issue. The keel hangs below the boat and pulls away from the hull. The manufacturer typically uses a flexible caulking to allow a bit of separation as no matter what you do the crack will come back.. so you will see this again.. it is not at huge issue... you find very few sailboats with external ballast without this smile.. I have a Swan and yes we also see this on these ladies... Fair Winds! Mike an EX Strait of George sailor... now in Denmark

I need some more explanation on pulling the fire extinguisher pin? Like by accident? The pin does nothing but prevent the trigger to be pulled... The cockpit looked a bit hazy though. Was it related to the melting plug? Why was the plug all scorched?

A plastic thru hull? Kinda sounds scary, I guess I've been out of saltwater boats a few years.

The “Catalina Smile” .......ouch ! It’s watching your videos that makes me smile though - keep em coming ! 😊👍

Who does a thumb down on your videos? They must have a sad life. You guys are great!

Great job! Kicking' butt!

I’m excited for the new season 🤣

Breaking Waves Sailing?!? More like Breaking Yer Back

Didn't you two love birds go aground due to tide? Cause the "smile" you think when pulled off?

Geez cracked keel, plug fire, stove issues, you guys are having the same issues we are 🤣🤣 maybe it is a Vancouver Island curse 🤣🤣

Excellent music this episode.

The thumbs down is most likely a rival youtuber channel... Welcome to haul out. If you plan a week allocate two... That hole within a hole saw is new to me. Great tip... and welcome to season three you two...

👍

Sorry, but I doubt your keel smile is solved with just applying some epoxy to the crack. This is a potential problem with all boats that have a bolt on keel, not just Catalina. The bolts are probably loose because the Mfg of the boat used a wood filler where the keel attaches to the hull. It is encased in FG but any cracks, even microscope, will let water in and rots the wood. Especially if they used plywood. This causes the structure to be soft and sag letting the keel down. Good news is your keel will probably not fall off unless you ground the boat especially hard and would have damaged the boat severely even if it were perfect before hand. Did you check the torque on the bolts? Are the bolts on the inside 'sinking' into the FG? This a problem not just with older Catalina (I have an 86 model and no problem) but I have seen this on Calalina, Ericson, ODay and others. Permanent fix is to remove the nuts or bolts, grind down and remove the offending rotten wood and build back up with solid fiberglass layers to the original height. Replace the bolts( or nuts) and set the torque. Another way is to drill horizontal holes thru the lead keel (port to strbrd) drill down thru the hull into the keel through these horizontal holes and place threaded rod down the nuts and washers on each side. Then grind down the keel and some of the hull to bare FG and lead and apply three layers of FG tape and resin. Then fill and smooth. This will take much longer than 3 days. I fear next time you haul out the smile will be back. Good luck and I hope I am wrong about this.

This is where you meet celebrities!!

Never knew that catalina had that issue. Good to know.

Enjoy your video's guys for what it's worth look at Sail Cloudy Bay channel this guy will show you any type of maintenance and repair anything on a boat Glen is brilliant I follow a number of sailing channel's he's the best.

Hay. #1 viewer today

We had a similar problem that we dealt with in our boat yard blues episode on our channel. Maybe we can help with some of your problems!

14th viewer today, yea !!

Drop the keel. replace the keel bolts , should be done every ten years especially if you are heading offshore . Its just a maintenance item that nobody will tell you about , but ask anyone working in a yard .

I am not sure how anyone plans on not being in the yard for min 1 month.

OK, Fix it and then do your dance ....

Alie needs to take Ben back to the shop and ask for a refund or at the very least ask for a guy who can build a shopping mall with a pen knife......

I found a crack please send us money!!!