Cracked my hull

[Scott_S]

Please don't try this at home. To access my centerboard, I slid my 16 off the trailer in my yard. You can lay it on one side with the keel on the ground to paint one side then lay it on the other side with the keel on the ground. It is a little bit challenging to winch it back on the trailer, but I have done it before. Here's when I got into trouble: I needed to roll the boat over further, lifting the keel so I could access the centerboard. BIG MISTAKE. I pulled down on the mast lifting the keel. I tied a new knot on my centerboard, then set the boat back up on its keel to winch it back on the trailer. OH NO! My heart sank as I saw two horizontal cracks in my hull on the side that had been on the ground. The weight of lifting the keel off the ground had caused the hull to crack in two spots. The upper crack was half way between the boot-top and the rub rail. The lower crack was below the boot top right where the bunk inside touches the side of the hull. Sorry to say, I had some fiberglass work to do. I ground down both cracks until the cracks were ground away. Cut some fiberglass mat and laid 3-4 layers of mat on  each location, saturating each piece of mat with resin as I laid it in position. When that hardened, I sanded and brushed some additional resin over each patch. I plan to lightly sand again before adding paint. I'll never do that again and I hope you will never make the same mistake. Fortunately, I had worked in a fiberglass shop as a summer job when I was a teen. I had no idea I would need that skill 40 years later.
Happy Sailing to All,
Scott

[crazycarl]

Ouch!