Doug, The keel on my LF38 was encapsulated by a previous owner. I do not know the detail of how it was done, but it appears the it was fiberglass wrapped with epoxy but was then faired with polyester fairing. I know this because when I first hauled her out, the keel was loaded with blisters whereas the rest of the hull had none. The blisters were only in the fairing. I assumed that polyester fairing was used to make it easier to sand the fairing. It was a bad idea, so don’t let anyone try to convince you to fair with a polyester fairing. I ended up grounding off all of the fairing and I found the underlying epoxied fiberglass in rock solid shape. I then redid the fairing using epoxy mixed with 50-50 colloidal silica & 3M glass spheres. And easily sanded it smooth with an orbital sander. It has been over 8 years and is still in perfect shape. That said, having owned another C&C previously, and experienced the smile, I do check the keel bolts out of habit but have had no issues.
The keel does have a large bolt head sticking out of it. It is basically right in the center on one side. It looks like someone drilled a hole and threaded the bolt in. I left it in place assuming that it was possibly done for a lightning ground. To be clear, this is not a garboard drain. I have a write up on my blog about this: http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/p/projects.html Go to "Bottom and Hull Work”->”Barrier Coat and Bottom Painting”. - Paul E. 1981 C&C Landfall 38 S/V Johanna Rose Fort Walton Beach, FL http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/ > On Dec 19, 2022, at 12:41 PM, Doug via CnC-List <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have a question for everyone here. Here in mexico where labor is cheap and > craftsmanship is good. I'm wondering about fully encapsulating my keel. The > thought behind this would be to eliminate the worry of my keel bolts. I can > see (access) a total of 2. There is one under the mast and who knows how many > below the engine down about 3 feet. > Just a thought as I don't show any signs of a loose keel yet. > > > > Doug Mountjoy > sv Rebecca Leah > C & C Landfall 39 > Port Orchard Yacht Club > +1 253-208-1412 > > Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help > me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > Thanks for your help. > Stu
Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks for your help. Stu
