>From what I've been told the bottom of the keel on the catalina isn't parallel with deck/water line, the end of the keel is lower than the front. If you block as if it were parallel then it puts extra pressure on the aft end which cause stress at the front which cause the gap to open - or so the old wives tell me. And the guy that hauled and blocked my boat always put a little more under the front of the keel and the boat always seemed to be on the level.
Of course for the half empty folks there's always that plywood under the bilge on older boats to worry about, along with rusty bolts and all that - but then again I've never seen a keel fall off one. Dave Cape Cod -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of tim ford Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 3:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Dry Sailing a Catalina 27 I was always under the impression that the "smile" was more a function of stresses encountered when under sail, e.g., falling off a wave in a big chop or piling on a bunch of canvas and racing in 25 kn, that kind-o-thing. Certainly seems that a lotta weight on keel sumps (that went thru a range of building conditions and materials) is likely to cause significant flexxing in breezier conditions and it seems like this would be the source of keel joint separation, rather than the way the boat is blocked up for the off-season. hey, what's with this font? tf David Shugarts wrote: > With my C-27 and people being more careful when they set the boat on land > each fall, we put an extra 3/4 inch, or even 1-1/2 inch underneath the > forward end of the keel, relative to the aft end. I have had the boat eight > years and no "smile" has developed. > > --Dave S. > >
