J/42 Back in The Boatyard: Allision Damage

[Todd Stevens]

I suppose I might as well start a thread about this.  

Part 1. Confession.  I hit a rock at cruising speed.  Not going to try to make excuses here.  Damaged my leg. Damaged the boat.  Since then, I've been traveling 400 miles back to the boat yard, mostly motoring in calm conditions and waiting out weather, holidays, and travel lift schedules.  Finally got hauled out today.  

From the outside, it looked like mostly cracks in fairing compound, but on the inside, I could immediately see that the baseboard trim on the settee had busted loose and travelled upwards, leaving a 3-inch scratch.  Pulling up the floorboards revealed some disturbing broken members in the grid and several cracks in the liner, parallel to the keel, that were seeping salt water.  Not much... a couple liters a day. 

[Todd Stevens]

On the hard, probing with a screwdriver reveals that there is indeed some delamination of the hull at least 2 to 4 inches forward and aft of the keel. I guess that’s the source of the salwater seepage.

[Dennis Boyd]

Todd, 

Glad everyone is safe, and boat been hauled.   My heart goes out to you.    This is an expected journey.    Keep us advised. 

Dennis

[Dennis Boyd]

typo.....sorry.... UNexpected....

[Chris]

This is tragic, Todd - so sorry you're having to deal with it. I live in fear of hitting something in Spice - I've always said it's not if, but when you run aground, and obviously our boats don't take it lightly. Where are you on the hard? Will you do the work yourself, or have the yard do it or both? 

A friend with a smaller boat (Dash 34) did something similar last year and fixed it himself, but there is much less furniture to work around, so tabbing the grid back down was much easier for him. His approach sounds like what you have planned: drop the keel; fix the external damage (he had less, but did have some), re-tab the grid (he was able to make it stronger than it had been, but our boats are stronger to begin with, so that may be more challenging), make the keel/hull joint perfect (made a mold to mimic the top of the keel and used epoxy to create a perfect surface to mate with on the boat; reattach the keel - go sailing. He's also done the keel on his Cartwright 44 in the past, if you'd like to chat with him about it he's likely happy to. Let me know and I'll get you in email correspondence.

Good luck! And share your experience here, I, for one, am very interested in it.

Chris

[David Jade]

I am sorry to hear about this as well. 

We removed and reset our keel last year on our J/46 (leaks around bolts - long story but no grounding). That alone was a complicated process. 

We hired Stephen Burke who designed the keel systems for the J/46 and oversaw the J/46 builds at TPI. He gave us very detailed information on how to have the yard do everything right, including making it stronger than before (just because we could). He knows it all very well  You might want to reach out to him. 

I have tons of photos of our process if that would help. Might be enough similarities. 

Good luck. 

David                      _/)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Apr 17, 2026, at 6:36 AM, Chris <j44s...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is tragic, Todd - so sorry you're having to deal with it. I live in fear of hitting something in Spice - I've always said it's not if, but when you run aground, and obviously our boats don't take it lightly. Where are you on the hard? Will you do the work yourself, or have the yard do it or both? 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "J/4X Owner's Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to j4x-owners-gro...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/efb206fe-f154-4230-877b-46e277f2dcden%40googlegroups.com.

[Adam Ruscitto]

Hi Todd,

Really sorry to hear about your grounding and resulting damage. Are you hauled out in San Carlos again? I'm currently en route to San Carlos, will be arriving Sunday. I'm bringing tools to remove/torque keel bolts with me if that's any help to you. Also happy to lend a hand dropping the keel, etc.

best,

Adam

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/972C08DC-DC9B-4112-B639-16A76E26FD6E%40mutable.net.

[david hills]

Adam, you are a hero!

David Hills

Caretaker 

Emery Farm

135 Piscataqua Rd

Durham, NH 03824

603-674-6412

I am my own strength, there is no other
I am my own weakness, there is no other
We are all one, there is no other

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 17, 2026, at 12:50 PM, Adam Ruscitto <adamru...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/CAExFo3GyzB6fc65PBLAWss5gvRKpYEPmCC_bNTujbX893z_T9A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Todd Stevens]

Thanks for the contact reference - that’s exactly what I was looking for. The guy the yard here consults with won’t be here for a week. IDK if he really has an engineering background or not.

I have brought the boat all the way north up to Puerto Peñasco. Although this was the farthest option. They have the equipment to do the job and they actually build boats (albeit, mostly in steel). Unlike the San Carlos yard which is mainly just storage. And the US border is only an hour away for having stuff delivered. If the process ends up being drawn out, we are already in position for hurricane season storage. And they have a couple of apartments to rent, right here in the yard, if/when that becomes necessary.

I haven’t really yet got out the grinder, but with a little probing I’ve learned a bit more about how the keel structure is built. There is a fiberglass stub that extends about ten inches below the hull, and the bolts must extend all the way through that. Except for the one at the bottom of the sump. I haven’t yet found the actual keel/stub joint - it appears to have been wrapped in fiberglass or something that will have to be ground off. This means that the hull delamination forward and aft of the keel may be a more complicated three-dimensional problem that I first thought. And now I worry that it may involve cored hull.

So I guess I have to mostly cool my heels here for another week. I can work on things like cleaning and folding the sails and flushing the motors and such.

First night on solid ground in at least a couple of months and I still feel like I’m bobbing up and down...

[David Jade]

Re: keel stub

Sounds a lot like the J/46. There is a “belly band” of fiberglass around the joint. 4-6” tall. Must be carefully ground away to separate the keel. The top part of the keel has an inset that the belly band fills. You don’t want to grind into the stub itself.

There was nothing cored in our stub. The aft part though was about 10” of mostly solid filled material. The rest varies in thickness. But around where the stub meets the hull, yes cored hull at some point.

We’re on an offshore passage right now. I’ll gather some photos of our J/46 stub/keel
in a few days as yours sounds very similar. Maybe it will help.

David _/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> On Apr 17, 2026, at 3:16 PM, 'Todd Stevens' via J/4X Owner's Group <j4x-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> 

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "J/4X Owner's Group" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to j4x-owners-gro...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/8418B6F7-836E-4860-A5B6-D28C9B42E026%40me.com.

[David Jade]

One more thing. The original J/46 owner’s manual had a section of installation of the keel. Maybe the J/42 owners manual has that as well.

David _/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> On Apr 17, 2026, at 3:32 PM, David Jade <da...@mutable.net> wrote:
>
> Re: keel stub

[Todd Stevens]

The J/42 manual has only a brief description of the keel. I suppose it was thought to be short enough that the boat could be trucked without removing it.

[Dick York]

Stephen Burke is a genius about lamination.  Use him.

Also, do not mess around here... get it done right.  The Sweden 41 Gunga Din went down about two years ago from pounding in the Gulf Stream....... after several groundings and some issues with the grid and keel bolts.  https://www.ussailing.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/BROC-Structurcal-Sinkings-Final-Report-1.pdf

Some ultrasonic tests might be of help.

Yes, pull the mast first.  

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/972C08DC-DC9B-4112-B639-16A76E26FD6E%40mutable.net.

[Todd Stevens]

So, one of the findings of that report should be of immediate interest to the J/4X crowd.

Access to the floorboards was impeded by interior cabinetry.

At least on my boat, all the floorboards are secured underneath perimeter baseboards, that all have to be removed before any floorboard can be pulled up.  Also, most of the self-tapping screws driven directly into the grid are bent or broken. They are just not strong enough for the application.  (I’ve always thought that was a stupid idea. Maybe it works in “green” fiberglass but not once it’s hardened.) So nothing really holds the floorboards down except the baseboards.

A more robust, and operable, method is needed for securing them.