Grounding reveals winter storage damage

[minas man]

I ran aground at the end of the 1000 foot channel that exits my harbour . I was trying to avoid another tack. After a few anxious minutes of floundering on the mud cake that had broken away from the bank I was able to get clear. The strong tidal currant flowing into the channel along with leeway of the same direction push me into the submerged mud cake just 10 feet from clearing the channel.
After completing my sail I made a metal note to check the bottom of the hull before my next sail and I found no damage from the grounding but some other damage from improper winter storage and bad design and placements of bunks.
When I first bought the boat I made a cradle using 2 2x6 x 4' long scribed to the bottom of the hull as described in the forum and then mounted them on a angle iron frame with 24" bicycle wheels. This was my transport dolly to the water and winter storage for the past 3 years with no problems as all was well supported.
Last season I built an aluminum dolly to reduce weight but I changed the size and placement of the pads. The size and the placement of the pads along with a heavy winter with 2 feet of packed snow caused the cracks in the gel-coat. I have a pitched roof 18 inches above the deck but that did not help with the support on the bottom and as a result have 2 circular gel coat cracks

.
The repairs to the gel-coat are now done and I am using my scribed 2x6x4' cradle on my aluminum dolly.
In the pictures you can see the circular pattern of the cracks which were caused by the front corners of the cockpit being less flexible than the area between the cockpit and the chine.
I used a V shaped 45° carbide cutter in a laminate trimmer to V out the damaged areas before applying the gel coat. Applied 2 coats of gel coat and was able to sail that same evening.

><> Minas man <><

 

[minas man]

Some were wondering about the tool and bit for V ing out the cracked gel coat so here is a picture of the bit and laminate trimmer. The bit angle is not 45º as I said earlier but a 80º carbide cutter and 3 eighths at the widest mounted in a laminate trimmer. The depth that I was cutting at was less than 1 16 of an inch and I was able to do all the spots in just a few minutes. The trimmer gives more control than a router and is able to get closer because of the small base.

Minas man