Internal ballast, AFAIK.
Nothing to see on the outside.
LB
Nothing to see on the outside.
LB
Michael Edwards
Member II
I am looking to purchase a 74 Ericson 32. Is there anyway to inspect the integrity of the keel. From the outside the hull/keel area looks good. Is there any problems I should be aware of? Thank you for any help.
AnnaDor is a 1978 E32, the only problems I have encountered with the keel.
1. Small blisters near the turn of the bilge, which was resolved completely by barrier coat.
2. A fracture was caused by a grounding in which the pointed tip of the trailing edge broke off. That I built up of glass and epoxy.
I would probe it with a dull screw driver to look for blisters.
3. The other place worth checking is at the compression post. If the door frame is misaligned it might have settled there. The layers of cloth covering the balast in my boat allowed bilge water to seep into the cavity. That was simply allowed to dry then built up again. I did add a metal plate under the post to distribute the load. This was a small project and there's been no problems since(9 years).
I had more water intrusion issues with the rudder (from blisters). Also easily resolved.
Michael