Epic day Saturday! 4 or 5 hours of drivin' the Stealth hard in 20 knots, two foot chop over a developing swell on Flathead Lake. I got this boat from Gary F early this spring, and I've been sailing it most every weekend for the last four months, and this was the first time I felt truly hooked up with it solo in big water. Can't seem to bury that lee bow! Hard to know whether it's the foiled rudders or the tall bows, but I sure like it! Well, on a downwind run under spin, I hear this loud(and sickening)CRACK! I throttle back to investigate, and thirty seconds later another one just like it. I finally looked over the outside of the windward hull to see the daggerboard at a peculiar angle. Thought maybe the board snapped, and was concerned about saving the remains. But about then I noticed how low in the water the hull had become, so the focus quickly shifted to the shortest distance to shore. Which fortunately wasn't too far. Lucky, since I'd been as much as 3 or 4 miles offshore at times over the course of the afternoon. Hull was pretty full by the time I got to land. Turns out the dagger tore aft thru the bottom of the boat, busting the daggerboard well too. So, gotta put it back together, hopefully with some input from you guys! I'll post pics soon. The first question is where and how big of a hole to cut to allow me access to the daggerbd well. My thought is to carefully remove a 10" x 10" section of the inner wall of the hull, and flange it on the inside when the repair is done. Is that too big a hole? Can I make it bigger? Is this the least stressed section of hull to open up? Other spots to consider? The daggerbd well actually broke quite cleanly, about midway down, and separated from the bottom of the hull cleanly as well. The upper section is intact and still attached to the deck. And all of the bottom of the hull, including the daggerbd exit profile is there still. So if I can get sufficient access, I think I can push/place all the bits back into place and sufficiently reinforce it all to ride another day. So, thoughts on weights and types of cloth? I'm comfortable with West System products, and I have a vacuum pump if needed. Flight Risk has given me a fair amount of practice with these materials! I'm willing to spend $s on carbon if it's appropriate, but is S glass sufficient in this application? What weight cloth? Anybody know the allen wrench size(mm?) of the bolts securing the beams to the hulls? I wanna buy the highest quality wrench I can find, 'cause this boat(2002) has seen a lot of salt water before coming to me, and I don't expect them to break free without a struggle. It doesn't appear that there's much chance of getting penetrant onto the threads. Any tips here? I plan to run this by John Pierce(the builder), but all advice and encouragement is welcome. These's lots of season left and I'd like to float her again soon. Help me out boys! Thanks!
