Sailboat Repair??

Hello World! I just bought a 21foot San Jaun. I knew it needed work, but everything was their and (seemingly) solid. I bought it anyway because I paid less then the trailer it is on is worth....

the deck needs some minor fiberglass work. but thats not what worries me.

This boat is sitting on a trailer with bunks and rollers, but there are dents in the hull where the back rollers are. We used a lift to pick the boat up and everything feels solid.

What can/should be done about this? Will these dents affect the boats sailing capabilities? Is there anything we can do to strengthen the hull, or modify the trailer to keep it from getting worse?

 

Yes the dents will affect the sailing qualities of your boat. Naturally, it depends on the location, size and depth of these depressions, but yep, they'll screw with things.

This isn't uncommon and it's fixable. The first thing to do is get the boat off the rollers and sitting on it's centerline, with just props or trailer bunks supporting the bilge so it can't flop over.

Do you have the mark I or mark II version? The mark II version is a raised deck style, the mark I has a squared off truck cabin. The hull shell is the same on both.

The usual option to fix these is to properly support the boat and hope it'll return to it's former shape. This works if it's not been sitting too very long on the rollers. If the 'glass has taken a "set" then you're screwed and have to fill the dents. Without pictures and a time line as to how long she'd been sitting on the poorly fitted trailer, it's just a guess as to the dents being "set" into the laminate.

Again, as a rule the boat should sit on it's centerline and be lightly propped up with bunk boards, so it can't flop over when you make turns under tow. As to reinforcement inside the hull you can, but it's not desirable, nor easy nor necessary if the trailer fits properly. The San Juan is a fairly light boat, so the dents may just return to normal in time (a few months), though you can often expect these areas will always be slightly depressed and will need some fairing to make things right again.

 

I saw two sailors on a beach one time waiting for a ride home after their SanJuan 21 had flexed or "oil-canned" so much crossing the bay on a choppy day that it opened up a crack in the hull...This hull is just not that thick and strong but if you want to keep her then I would try to strengthen the hull in the bow area (where these guys had the crack and where there is alot of pounding stress in rough seas).It could still be a good boat to learn on if you got it cheap like you said and you don't take it offshore ...Good luck with her...