Tracy, I rebuilt the keel stub on my 35-3 last year, with guidance from a few guys on this list. The design is slightly different on the 38-3, based in your diagrams. Is that aft keel bolt loose? What is the condition of the area around that bolt? Are there backing plates for the keel bolts, or just washers? Water may be working its way through the crack you mentioned in the aft of the keel ( which might suggest a previous grounding, as does the loose aft bolt and the smile). I am not sure if you will need to excavate the blue foam if you grind, fill and glass the crack in the aft if the keel from the outside. I did the forward portion of my keel stub from inside and out. I would recommend backing plates for all of the bolts. I used G10 to add a little umph to the base of the keel stub and then 1/4" stainless plates. Then be sure to torque those nuts to spec. David Swensen Freya 35-3 Beverly, MA
On Thu, Apr 14, 2022, 3:24 PM Tracy Tims via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > My boat developed a touch of smile on the port side of the keel, along > with a bit of a crack near its aft edge. The crack very slowly leaked > antifreeze from the bilge when on the hard. > > So I opened it up and I found what might be a manufacturing defect. The > crack was into a porous resin-starved part of the skin, admitting water > into the aft portion of the keel stub, which seems to be an enclosed box > filled with blue stuff. The blue stuff was cracked and soggy. (I’m > presuming the blue stuff is polyester resin with filler.) > > See pics for the exciting details: > https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0h532ODWJEHCio > > I’m trying to figure out the best repair plan. Do I: > 1. Just build up patches over what is currently there without worrying > about the internal structure too much? > 2. Remove all the filler, find water route between box and sump and seal > it, tab in and build up structural reinforcement, and then patch over all > that? > 3. Something in between those options? > > Even more confusing is that my boat is not constructed as drawn in the > manual. It looks like someone (factory? an engineering revision?) expanded > the box forward, engulfing what looks like part of the aft sump divider. > The good news is that the keel bolts all look great, there’s no leaks I can > detect along the joint except at the aft end, via that box of cracked blue > whatever it is. > > - Tracy > (I hope this doesn’t come through twice… I accidentally submitted it from > the wrong email address the first time.)
