My boat is a ’78 C&C 26. It’s a Florida boat and has spent all its life year round in salt water. I’ve had her for a few years now and I found the infamous “Smile” when I hauled out yesterday and have a few questions about re-torquing the bolts. After sanding in prep for paint I can see previous smiles have been repaired.
1) From the Keel Bolt Specification chart in the C&C Photo Album it shows the torque spec to be 350 Foot Pounds for the 1-inch bolts. Is Ft-Lbs correct or could that be Newton Metres? 2) I have three 1-inch bolts and one 1/2-inch bolt that is furthest aft. The Spec Chart lists a 1 1/2-inch nut for the 1-inch bolts. Mine are 1 5/8-inch. Does that mean these might not be original, or could C&C have sometimes used different size nuts? 3) All three of the 1 5/8-inch nuts have various stages of pitting, I’m assuming it's from electrolysis. The deepest pits appear to be about 1/8th inch deep. I’ll remove one nut and take it with me when searching for replacements to make sure I have the correct thread pattern. The question is: do I worry about the bolts themselves, or leave them be following the ignorance-is-bliss principle? 4) I once had a SS nut on a SS all-thread keel bolt gall when I was removing it — which caused all sorts of complications. I'm terrified of that happening here. Any tricks or suggestions to lessen the chance of that happening, especially since I suspect electrolysis issues? Also, I will need to cut about a 1/2- inch off the tops of two of the 1-inch bolts to get my deep socket onto the nuts (the bolts currently protrude 1 3/4-inch above the nuts. Will the heat from cutting through them contribute to or lessen the chances of galling? 5) When re-torquing should I use some sort of anti-seize or torque it dry? Thanks in advance, Jim Hesketh C&C 26 - Whisper Miami, FL
