When I first got my '84 C-27 10 years ago, I found that the keelboat nuts were eaten halfway through, and plier tight. Happily, the boat had not developed the "smile". I replaced the nuts with new stainless (the original nuts and bolts in my boat were 5/8" stainless). I have been able to work these nuts down to 60 ft. lb. As I noticed that the bilge pump hose could not suck the water level below about 1 1/2 inches, I installed a strainer box on the end of the hose and secured it to the bottom of the sump. The pump can now draw the water level down to 1/8".
This season, realizing that I had 22 years under the keel, I decided as a precaution to purchase Catalina Direct's lag keelbolt kit, plus 3 extra bolts, for a total of 8. I believe that nothing succeeds like overkill. I installed the first pair of bolts 10" ahead of the first existing pair, and the other 3 pairs equally between the existing two pairs. I used a 1/2" drill to turn the bit. I found that the "tef gel" product that came with the kit made the bolt so sticky that I couldn't draw it all the way down with a 3' bar on the wrench, so I used Permatex anti-seize compound. That's that silver stuff that's hard to get off your fingers, but it lubricates, and helps keep dissimilar metals from corroding together. Slow going, though. Takes a lot of time and torque to run those bolts down into the lead. My boat should now last forever - ha! Art Herrick #5468 Sea Change ----- Original Message ----- From: James Calleran To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 10:55 AM Subject: catalina27-talk: Keel bolts Listees, After a, ahem, hard grounding, my Catalina smile has reappeared (last seen 6-7 years ago) — not badly, but a thin line at the keel joint is visible on one side. The boatyard service manager has recommended re-torque-ing the keel bolts. Naturally, the yard will do the job for a fee, though I don't have a quote. I'm concerned about these 30 yr-old bolts breaking off under 60+ ft-lbs of torque. Any of you who have done this yourselves: 1. How did you clean off the accumulated rust (They were rusty, right)? 2. Were you able to budge the nuts? 3. Did you remove them —one at a time, of course — and clean the threads? 4. Did you replace with stainless nuts? 5. What torque? For those who have installed SS Lag Bolts in your keel. 1. Did you buy the $279.95 kit from Catalina Direct? (5 bolts, 1 drill bit, washers) 2. What size is the drill bit? 3. Did drilling require a rotary hammer type drill, or just a powerful standard drill? I have source of SS 1/2" x 8" SS lag bolts @ 14.95 each. Specs say 18-8 stainless; no mention of 316. Thoughts on using these? Thanks for comments on your experience. Fair Winds, Jim Calleran, C27 #2784, Trad, OB Mathews Yacht Club, VA 37°27.8'N/76°18.6'W
