Martin, David, thanks for the eyeball+brain time and advice!
- Updated pictures at https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0h532ODWJEHCio
- I’ve decided I’m dealing with original construction—there’s fibreglass that
could have only been put in place before the structural grid went in.
- I do have a fiberglass guy, and apparently he’s a gelcoat wizard. But
everyone has their methods and preferences and I probably am slightly more
obsessive than he is.
- Over a period of days I progressively filled the sump with water +
fluorescent dye and then inspected the keel with a UV flashlight each night.
- It didn’t start leaking until it was a couple inches above the aft keel bolt,
and when it got to the limber hole it poured through. The UV dye helped me see
the flows.
- There is no evidence of any leaks through keel bolts, and my fiberglass guy,
who’s a keel specialist, said the stub-keel joint is in excellent condition
- I ended up removing almost all the filler yesterday.
- I’m going to have to seal the fwd face of the divider and somehow reconstruct
the limber hole area.
- Today I will pressure wash everything and start drying it out. I made a box
big enough for the keel and I’ve got 20 lbs of dessicant.
- Then I’ll grind out the remaining filler and suspect material.
- I’m going to borescope that upper air space and figure out what C&C did up
there.
- Then plan the repairs.
Additional questions:
- So really torque the 1” bolts to 350 foot-lbs? No one has crushed laminate at
that torque?
- Should I plan to do vacuum bagging where I can make it work, or not bother?
- Tracy
1986 38-3, Toronto
> On Apr 15, 2022, at 6:57 AM, David Swensen via CnC-List
> wrote:
>
> 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
> 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.)
