Just as in fixing a crack in a plaster wall at home, using only a filler
in the crack itself will never be anything but a temporay solution. The
crack has to be bridged with a patch that spans an area substantially
larger than the crack. Ten or so years ago, I got tired of revisiting
the same issue every spring. I gouged out all the crumbly filler using a
coarse wire wheel in a drill. I torqued the keelbolts using a very large
torque wrench. Then I filled the void with epoxy thickend with fibers.
That was followed by an epoxy/fiberglass wrap that extended about 10
inches above to 10 inches below the crack. Two layers of that. Then I
filled and faired the keel, applied barrier coats and bottom paint. No
trace of a smile since then, and I've dragged my keel through the bottom
more than a few times on the way in and out of some favorite anchorages.
Bill BIna
On 9/3/2013 8:50 AM, Hoyt, Mike wrote:
Bill
I have used G-Flex the past number of years. Prior to that I used 3M
Premium Marine filler (the blue stuff). G-Flex is marginally better.
The problem is not so much the smile as the fact that some keels move a
bit. On previous boat - George Hinterhoeller designed and build Niagara
26 it was almost identical to C&C boats that George built with the
"smile" etc. I was having water come in one year and that was because
the nuts needed to be torqued. I did this in the water and that stopped
the leak and then in the off season I dropped the keel 2 inches (lifted
front of hull), cleaned the joint, rebedded with 3M 5200 and retorqued.
Never leaked again.
Even afetr rebedding the keel the "smile" came back at least every
second year abd usually every year. Current boat is J-27 and has the
same "smile" issue from keel flexing. I used G-Flex with limited
success - now only the forward 1/2 to 1/3 of the joint needs refairing
every year. Last off season based on advice of others on this forum I
ground out the joint a bit and used 6 oz cloth with West 105 epoxy and
fast hardener and faired over that with Gflex thickened with West 407.
This past summer have hit a lot of nasty square waves so will be
interesting to see how the joint made out when we haul boat next weekend
Mike
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