Hi Lester,

Others have given you good advice, but don't be too alarmed. I owned a
1971 C&C and can attest to the fact that they are well made and
generally hold up well. You will want to evaluate the deck for signs of
rot or water intrusion in the balsa core, and you may want to double
check the backing of all deck hardware, as mentioned in other replies.

I found the lead keel to be virtually trouble-free. The lead is quite
soft so even gentle "bumps" will leave gouges and marks. After 30 years
almost any boat will have touched bottom while pulling up to a shallow
fuel dock, slip etc. It may not indicate may more extensive damage or
hard groundings. The lead can be coated with a barrier coat (I used VC
Tar)and painted. It wasn't gelcoated from the factory, just painted I
believe. Any older sailboat, and most new ones too, will have a visible
line where the keel meets the hull. Check out some other sailboats in
your yard and see how yours compares. You can fair it with thickened
epoxy but it will return within no time! Do inspect the keel bolts.

You may want to apply a barrier coat to the hull, but this is a big job
if you have to remove the old bottom paint. If this is your first
season with the boat you may instead opt to simply apply a fresh coat of
paint and get in the water. Be sure whatever paint you use is
compatible with the old paint and suitable for your area. I'd ask
around at the local marina or club. Stripping old paint is NOT fun and
your boat has survived 30 years without blisters, one more won't hurt.

Have fun!
Jason




Lester Evans wrote:
My soon to be new/old boat is a C&C 30 sloop rigged sailboat. The boat was
built in 1974, or 73. Anyway,, it is OLD.

Everything looks pretty sweet but after reading your posts and learning ;;;
I have concerns.

The keel; the C&C 30 of that era has a fin type keel, and the keel is
attached to the hull. From what I can figure the keel is lead. The forward
lower part of the keel shows signs of groundings. Looks like the keel
bumped into a few things .. can't say what. There are dents, or gouges.
The paint covering the keel is flaking. I was able to remove lots of paint
with my swiss arny knife. It looks like the seam at the hull is tight but
the line where the keel and hull meet is evident.

What covering should go on this type of keel? From the flakes of paint, it
looks like a build up of old paint and something under the paint, maybe
gelcoat.
It is not just paint...

My plan is to sand, scrape, peel, sand, fill, sand, ,,, but what about then.

Should I cover the keel with some type of epoxy? Then paint?

What about the keel joint?

The hull, the fiberglass part, looks really good. No blister, etc. There
is one very thin layer of bottom paint.

The boat didn't go in the water last summer, what does that do to the bottom
paints, etc

Any C&C 30 owners out there;;;; please email. I will call you.

Lester ,,, the future sailor.