Andrea,

Do you have  genoa tracks on your W32?  There were a few boats where the  track when through bolted and then tightened up would crack. This problem is caused by the hull and deck curvature not matching up. When the hull and deck are put together, there should only be a relatively small mismatch, either a gap amidships or on the bow and stern areas. When Christalliner (W32 supplier of the hull and decks) made the components, one may have been improperly stored  and warped, or shrunk differently in the varying weather conditions. In the plastics business this is one of the manufacturing considerations to avoid problems.  My boat does not have this problem, because when Westsail expanded to the East Coast, they built a new mold that dealt with the short comings of the first mold. The West Coast ended up with the old hull and the new deck, the East Coast with the new hull and old deck. Getting the molds right the first time around is more luck on a large part like the 32, but should have been adjusted after the first hull and then the hull sheer clamp would have been shifted. I vaguely recall with W32 hull #550 or so that was taken care of.

The cracking on the "inbetween run" (from the mahogany sheer clamp till the new mold pair) may have been that mismatch. I had a W32 before my present one that when I installed the genoa track and tightened up the through bolts, the gap filler that Westsail used started to crack badly. The genoa track consists of the fairly stiff track itself and the riser for clearing the car/block. The whole thing is fairly stiff and needs a lot of downward pressure, hence the cracking.

To alleviate this, I'd suggest to cut a spacer the full length of the opening. The material should have good compressive strength and not crack. Fit this in and take your time. It needs not to be a perfect match, so what. The blending is easy, the piece to fill the gap (on my first W it was over an inch) can be sloppy, when tightening the whole thing with the sealer applied the boat will be tight there. The outside finish should be no problem, just smear thick putty to extend the surface of the outside of the hull over the filler. I call this the "squeegee" blend. When you paint the whole thing over, it won't be distinguishable

Should your boat have different symptoms than I just described, then disregard my suggestion. I also hope that this does not come too late.

Mike Z

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