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 > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> 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 <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.)