Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY 10 Nov 22 Hull Repairs

 10 Nov 22:

Poor SMEDLEY was damaged during transport to the Mid Atlantic Station, so today we rigged Skipper's Boat Hoist over the Wheel Deck and got SMEDLEY flipped, ready for repair.

SMEDLEY bounced on his trailer during the 900 mile ride in a PODS container, and came down crooked on the trailer rollers. Then a platform that I built over SMEDLEY partially collapsed, adding insult to injury. The bounce was my mistake, I should have tied SMEDLEY to the trailer. The platform collapse, and by that I mean a marine construction quality platform, I'll place on the nature of the harsh ride that must have been encountered inside of the PODS. Marine grade lumber was broken, deck screws ripped out. Fortunately there was not much weight on the platform, or damage could have been worse. Learning Lessons.

Port side, just forward of daggerboard trunk.

Starboard side.

We'll also replace the capsize recovery snaps. There is a strap for each side, underneath the deck.

The straps snap to the bottom of the deck.

One corner was damaged also. We'll repair the deck and hull edge seam then epoxy them back together.

SMEDLEY's innards are interesting, very thin fiberglass in this area, almost like there was a shortage of resin. Looking forward from the hole(s) there is a small block of foam, which provides some structure and flotation. Had we known where this foam was, we would have placed the roller underneath that area. The hull is upside down in the photo, and there is a small cutout for a limber hole drain.

Looking aft, the centerboard trunk is in good shape and another hunk of foam is visible near the transom.

Video: https://youtu.be/lOv1CoIgTQI

A little bit of thickened epoxy, fiberglass cloth and touchup coating and SMEDLEY will be better than new.

Log of SMEDLEY.