Stephen:
My first boat was a Ranger 26 that had been modified (the cast
iron keel was replaced with an IOR-style lead keel). I discovered this after I
bought the boat -- for a song, mind you, as it had been abandoned. We tackled
a variety of projects, including rebedding the keel bolts. The bolt holes were
visibly cracked and leaking a bit. I can say with 100% certainty that the keel
is now adequately supported, and the bolt holes will never leak again. Based
on my experience with the Ranger, my view is that nearly anything can be
repaired on a fiberglass boat. Given what you described, you can probably
glass some stiffeners in place.
My concerns would be: 1) what caused the problem; and 2) fixing
it correctly. If you race the boat, you may also need to deal with
weight/modification issues. As to my first concern, a solid glass hull flexing
enough to discern keel movement is obviously not normal. Perhaps the boat ran
hard aground? As to my second concern, I suggest having a nautical engineer
inspect the problem and recommend the repair. I would not just go sailing and
keep an eye on it. The keel on the Cal 33 I grew up on developed a problem we
were “keeping an eye on,” and the boat nearly sunk in the middle of Lake Erie
(50 degree water) with me and a few law school buddies on board. Had she gone
down, we would have perished – no life raft on board, and not enough time for a
rescue in water that cold. The repair was relatively straightforward, and the
boat is still sailing today. Remarkably, although Cal 33 owners were not
warned, Lapworth had already designed the fix. It was an easy repair that has
lasted for nearly 40 years, but the potential consequences of a pre-repair
failure were disastrous.
On my 42, the leading edge of the keel where it meets the hull
shows signs of cracking. I promptly had a nautical engineer look at. He was
an intern or apprentice at C&C in the ‘70s, and based on his knowledge he
concluded that the location of the cracks is not a critical stress point. The
weight of the keel is supported further aft, and the leading edge likely has
fill inside and may be flexing enough to develop the cracks. He concluded it
is non-structural with no chance of catastrophic failure. That’s the kind of
problem I’m willing to keep an eye on.
Long story short: it can likely be repaired, but you need
expert help. This is not something to mess around with. Good luck!
Matt
C&C 42 Custom
From: Stephen Kidd via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2022 7:31 PM
To: Stus-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com>
Cc: Stephen Kidd <stephenk...@gmail.com>
Subject: Stus-List Re: 25 MKII - Smiling?
Greetings,
I wanted to give an update on the keel wobble on our 25 MKII. It took a while
for us to get our ducks and the weather in a row, but it gave us time to do a
lot of reading and research following the leads provided through the list. As
our next step in investigating the keel wobble, we tightened the bolts and
checked the keel with the boat in slings. Torquing the bolts went smoothly
using a torque wrench, torque multiplier and an extra deep socket. Before
tightening, we backed them up a little, and they all budged with between 100 -
150 ft/lbs of torque on the wrench. We were able to torque the keel bolts to
350 ft/lbs, and there was no indication of the bolt spinning or washers digging
into the glass.
We then had the boat lifted in slings, and the keel continued to flex with a
moderate push with a foot. At this point, I noticed that the flex wasn't
between the keel and the hull (that was encouraging!), but it was the entire
hull flexing. I then climbed aboard and asked the very accommodating marina
manager to wiggle the keel, which he did with vigor. The entire bottom of the
bilge visibly flexed. Interestingly to me, the keel bolts didn't appear to move
relative to the rest of the hull, everything was in it together. The hull/keel
joint actually seems pretty solid, so I am glad that we took this step before
dropping the keel. The hull flexing is something we should have caught right
away, but we looked right past it because we assumed it was the hull/keel
joint.
Even if the hull/keel joint is off the hook for the wobble, from past
discussions on this list and elsewhere, I suspect this is not a good finding.
We have seen cases where people have made significant and impressive structural
repairs, many of which have been referenced here on the list, to increase
rigidity. The both of us carefully inspected the bilge area for signs of
cracking or separation, and we have not identified anything obvious (untrained
eyes). Thus, we would not know what to fix were we to go that route. The marina
manager is similarly at a loss. I'm also not comfortable not knowing why the
hull is visibly flexing. At the same time, several sailors at the marina
suggested that she's probably fine and we should just go sailing and keep an
eye on it. As tempting as that is, that's beyond our comfort zone.
So, that's the general outcome of the wobbly keel investigation. I do have a
question: Is this a repair that a reasonable person would be able to take on?
I'm not sure that person would be me, but I do not want to scrap a boat that
someone could make good use of. Afterall, she has been an incredible boat for
us and is undeniably an adorable 25' C&C.
Many thanks,
Stephen
On Sun, Jan 2, 2022 at 3:32 PM Stephen Kidd via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com
<mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote:
Happy New Year! We're hoping to get some insights on an issue we are having
with our keel. We recently had our 25 MKII hauled for some winter projects and
were surprised to see that the keel "wiggled" when the boat was on the travel
lift, a little bit laterally.
I've uploaded some photos of the keel and the keel bolts
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/TVsmhMAwwJUQEEee8> . Here are some observations:
1) No signs of weeping from the keel joint and no visible separation when
lifted from the stands.
2) None of the keel bolts (3 in total) leak.
3) Crack at the aft end doesn't look typical of the C&C smile based on internet
searches.
Should we torque the keel bolts, grind out the crack, fill (G-flex?), fair, and
paint, or is this beyond a "smile" fix?
Thanks!
Stephen
Please trim your messages before sending to the list. Thankx
