I check my keel bolts every 6 mos or so. They're easily accessible on
the Cal 20. Doesn't hurt to check. When I hauled it the first time, several
were loose.

Captain William Collin, Master of the barque Grimenza wrote in message
...
On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 22:59:29 GMT,
scribbled thusly:

On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 08:03:41 +1100, "Captain William Collin, Master of
the
barque Grimenza" wrote:

I could never buy a C&C with their "smile" reputation because any
cracking meands movement no matter what the owners/builders may say.
I suspect that is the real reason Bubbles purchased his boat cheap.
The crack means water ingress, the water one devoid of oxygen will
corrode the keelbolts and then the real drama begins. I would be
interested in seeing his current haulout shots to see if he had the
problem fixed.

This is just plain nonsense. The C&C smile is very rarely cause for
alarm.
Cracking does not always mean shifting or a breech. In the case of C&C,
what it
usually means is some of the extreme outer layer of fillet cracking due
to
stretching of the hard, non flexible fillet material.

Umm what's causing the stretching? Movement?

The keel joint itself
remains water tight unless the keel bolts have not been properly torqued.
Every
spring, I spend all of 15 minutes checking the torque on those 5 big
bolts. No
big deal.

I've never needed to check keel bolts more than once after a keel was
installed unless there were unusual circumstances. ie grounding or
extreme weather.
First sign is usually cracking.

My C&C had a crack all the way around the keel when I bought it. The keel
bolts
were not tightened properly. The keel had been professionally rebedded 5
years
earlier, but the keel bolts had not been checked since then. Even at
that,
there was no, none, nada, zilch, leaking into the bilge

Water can still get around the bolts without getting into the bilge.

I simply torqued the
bolts properly, ground out the crack a little bigger and filled it with
Marine
Tex. The crack has not re-appeared. This is a complete NON - ISSUE for
people
knowledgeable about boat construction.

Oh OK, so next time I see a boat with cracks right around the
hull/keel joint I'll just think about you and pass it off as nothing
to worry about, Just torque em up and she'll be right mate.

The famous C&C smile is cosmetic for the most part. I have seen boats of
many
brands with true keel separation. C&C is better than most in this regard
because
of the way the joint is designed.

Cosmetic for the most part....What's the other part?

BB



Oz1...of the 3 twins.

I welcome you to crackerbox palace,We've been expecting you.