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Home. Association Forum Ships Store Cruising Racing Technical Tips Photo Gallery - New Boat Search - Updated Manuals & Brochures Swap Meet Links Officer Flag Line & Staff Bylaws & Constitution   Members Area Join the Association   Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.	Dragon Tail - Swing Keel Trunk Fix This tip submitted by Ken Cave I originally had some work done at my local marina, Fidalgo Marine, in Anacortes. When they removed the swing keel to sand blast and epoxy, they discovered that two of the bolts holding the keel in place were actually being screwed into a void. After getting material from Catalina concerning the problem, they ground down the area in question and rebuilt the area with fiberglass. After that, we also found that the trunk itself was leaking due to the fact that a previous owner dropped the swing keel. The folks there took care of that problem, or at least tried. A year later, I noticed some leakage again from the trunk, but could not find its source. I then decided to put it on the trailer and take the whole thing apart to see where the problem was. I purchased a Mikita grinder and a good respirator and started grinding. First I took out the whole corner, exposing the trunk, then found that Catalina, when building up the trunk used putty similar to bondo on the side that was leaking. The total glass area where you can see a crack was about one quarter inch in thickness, and, it was just mush. Also found a large area near the top of the trunk that had turned to mush, probably by the board working against the trunk over the years. As I found myself in over my head, I hired a local fiberglass expert to redo the trunk. As he used different weaves of glass in his work the trunk is probably the strongest part of the boat. This took four days of laminating and drying before he was satisfied with the work. After he was finished, I took material that one uses to mat pictures, and duct taped the material into place so that I could rebuild the top of the seating area. This took another three days using the West System products. I then built a 'box' made of quarter inch teak plywood and stringers to make the sides and corner of the seat area, as the new fiberglass was now even with the old material. In all, I feel satisfied with the result, but keep an eye on the area with the inspection holes (one that Catalina provided, and thee Beckson deck plate that Fidalgo Marine installed) to keep ahead of any future potential problem.