Topic: I Ran Aground - What Should I Look For?
I had the misfortune to run aground hard. Dense fog, large swells, and a navigational error put me off course by about 150 yards. In visibility of 50' I hit a nice piece of rock called the Lobster Claw, just off Sambro head in Nova Scotia. We hit at about 5 kts, below the water line. We were then lifted up by a big wave onto the rocks. The boat lay on her side, waves crashed over, filled her cockpit and a couple of feet in the cabin. We bounced around on the side for a bit then another big wave washed us off. Not too cool with dad (aged 68), nephew (aged 16) and son (aged 3) aboard. My son still talks about it - "we no get lost in fog again Daddy. We no bash into rocks. I don't want to be wet and cold again Daddy". Needless to say this was quite traumatic but also an experience from which I learned many things.
Here's my question: We did not hole the boat. Definitely there is cosmetic damage. Any suggestions on how to look for structural damage? Any recommendations on what to use to patch my gel coat?