Bill I have used G-Flex the past number of years. Prior to that I used 3M Premium Marine filler (the blue stuff). G-Flex is marginally better. The problem is not so much the smile as the fact that some keels move a bit. On previous boat - George Hinterhoeller designed and build Niagara 26 it was almost identical to C&C boats that George built with the "smile" etc. I was having water come in one year and that was because the nuts needed to be torqued. I did this in the water and that stopped the leak and then in the off season I dropped the keel 2 inches (lifted front of hull), cleaned the joint, rebedded with 3M 5200 and retorqued. Never leaked again.
Even afetr rebedding the keel the "smile" came back at least every second year abd usually every year. Current boat is J-27 and has the same "smile" issue from keel flexing. I used G-Flex with limited success - now only the forward 1/2 to 1/3 of the joint needs refairing every year. Last off season based on advice of others on this forum I ground out the joint a bit and used 6 oz cloth with West 105 epoxy and fast hardener and faired over that with Gflex thickened with West 407. This past summer have hit a lot of nasty square waves so will be interesting to see how the joint made out when we haul boat next weekend Mike -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Bill Connon Sent: Monday, September 02, 2013 2:26 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Stus-List C&C smile I've been fixing the smile with Bondo over the past few years. This season I've noticed that I'm getting some sea water into the bilge ( along with rainwater that comes down the mast ). On haulout this year I'm planning on making a more permanent fix. Has anybody used G-Flex epoxy for this project? I plan on using thickened epoxy to fill the gap and then use wetted out fibreglass tape to strengthen the joint. Comments, ideas and suggestions would be appreciated. Bill Caprice 1 1978 C&C 36 _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
