Date: 1/25/2001
Name: John VanderSchalie (vandy)
email: jvs@clarkston.com
subject:
Hull (speed)-dimples / trailers


For a while, a bunch of years ago, we were "backyard" dealers for Clark. We lived in the far-east (of WA state), and they were in Auburn, then Kent, (the far-west)during our years dealing with them. We sold a number of new and used '21's and, when I went to pick up a new '21 from the factory, I did a number of things. One of the most important was to visit with the "yard man" who put the boats on the trailer and got them ready for travel. **EVERY** boat I picked up was sinched tight to a Calkins trailer, with SIGNIFICANT dimples in the hull! They were either where the front of the bunks pushed into the hull, or where the back of the bunks pushed into the hull. The cure was quit simple, ADJUST THE DAMN FRONT ROLLER TO THE PROPER HEIGHT! The guy just couldn't get this! If the front roller is too high, the dimples were at the back of the bunks. If too low, the dimples were at the front of the bunks! DUH! Charley Calkins told me one time not to worry about the dimples, and that if you adjusted your trailer, then took a heating pad and layed it inside the hull over a dimple (if you could get to that spot - otherwise outside), heat up the glass then use a glass suction cup to pull out the dimple until the hull cooled, and that would fix it. We never tried that, but if we adjusted the trailers correctly, it wasn't long until the dimples came out on their own. I'll bet they come out on their own when a boat is left on moorage as well.

The best trailer I've seen in this part of the country is an EZ-Loader that has multiple floating-bunks that conform to the shape of the hull, and spread the weight evenly. Take a look at Scott Peterson's trailer if you get a chance - he sails out of Pasco, WA, and will be putting on the WN's this summer on his home waters. Perhaps he could describe it better, or post a picture. The wood slats are about 3.5 in. x 3 feet long, and there must be 20 of them under the boat. They are carpet covered. It's essentially a roller trailer with wood slats in the place of rollers.

The other thing I did was get all the deck hardware in a bag, because their installers did such poor work that if there were 30 holes drilled through the cabin top, at least 10 of them would be leaking while still on the grounds of the factory! I usually replaced their poor quality hardware with better stuff, and spent lots of time rigging the new boats we sold, making sure every bolt through the deck was properly sealed. Q-C was not a strong point at Clark, I'm sorry to say.

I have some stories about other QC problems on '21's, that I'll leave for another time, but, I don't feel dimples are a major problem unless they are cracking the actual fiberglass cloth/roving/chop whatever, or if the gel coat is so cracked that it lets in water. Adjust your trailer so they slowly come out - I do believe they will.

One last thing. My son, Sparky, thought our boat planed quicker when the back dimples were left in. Ours are now out. So, should the class now check to be sure that no one has "speed dimples?" w h a t e v e r !


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