crack in keel at ballast

[mggilmore]

I need to repair a crack at the front of my keel. It appears that it has been repaired in the past. I dug out the old repair and now have a crack that is about 3 to 4 inches long 1/8 of an inch thick and about an inch deep. When I opened it up it was wet and I got a couple ounces of water to drain out. The fiberglass above, below and aft of the crack are intact. The keels bolts are all firmly in place without any signs of corrosion. So I think I am just dealing with a small fiberglass repair. I'm asking others, do you any experience with this situation? any advice ? see the two pics I have attached. Thanks

 

[treilley]

I would say you should drop and rebed the keel. Water coming out is a bad sign. It is either coming from the bilge or a larger void in the joint.

 

[Frank Langer]

I may be wrong, but with that crack being at the keel/hull joint, just at the front of the keel, I'm wondering if maybe the boat was grounded at some point, with the grounding force stopping the boat and pushing the front/bottom of the keel back to open up that crack, and then repaired by a previous owner.

If so, you may want to check the area under the floorboards where you can see it for any delmanation or other sign of damage. If there is none, you could try to fibreglass the crack area once it dries out; better would be to drop the keel and rebed it as Tim suggests, and then repair the crack. But that would not be easy or cheap to do.

Good luck with it, and keep us posted on what you decide and how it turns out.

Frank

 

[u079721]

Well I agree with the others that what you OUGHT to do is drop and rebed the keel. Especially if the rest of the keel-hull joint is cracked, or if you think you are getting water in the bilge, or there is any sign of a very hard grounding that might have cracked any of the stringers.

But if you don't have the time or money to do that now, you could fill the void with thickened epoxy, and then layer over the crack with multiple layers of cloth to reinforce the area. But if the keel-hull joint still leaks, you then really have to drop rebed the keel.

 

[Cory B]

Based on our experiences I would suggest drop and rebed. If the crack has been there for a while there is chance of nasty crevice corrosion that could be hidden from visual inspection of the bilge area.

Please see http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3448.

 

[Loren Beach]

That's quite a Gap

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=3448

Earlier thread on keels, and not the only related thread on the site.
Note that with water penetrating the joint and potentially corroding the bolts, the only fix you can trust is to drop and re-bed your keel.
Not what you probably want to hear, but having done a re-bed on our own boat, I do recommend this.
Loren

ps: use Advanced Search function and do a Tag Search on keelbolts.
Here's another thread: http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=4679

 

[mggilmore]

ok, thanks for the input. let me clarify the water comment. I may have got about 2 ounces of water to drip out after many hours. I respect what you guys are saying but I'm having a hard time jumping to dropping the keel unless this is a common problem with the E32-300

 

[mherrcat]

What model Ericson is it? Don't some have encapsulated balast? Wouldn't that make it a rather large undertaking to remove the keel?

 

[Loren Beach]

What model Ericson is it? Don't some have encapsulated balast? Wouldn't that make it a rather large undertaking to remove the keel?

From the owner's bio it's a 1987 E-32-3. External lead fin.

 

[rwthomas1]

Loosen the nuts on the keel bolts about an inch then have the yard pick up the boat. If the keel just drops it needed rebedding anyway. If it does drop have the yard just support the hull a few inches above the keel bolts with double or triple the normal number of poppets you use. Clean it out, inspect the bolts closely, rebed, drop the hull back on and torque the nuts down.

If it doesn't drop then put the boat back down, remove the nuts completely and THOROUGHLY inspect the visible keel bolts for corrosion. My experience was the corrosion was most evident under the nuts and just below them. If all is well, torque the nuts, fiberglass the crack and move on.

RT

 

[mggilmore]

Thanks for your input everyone. You have caused me to take a much more serious look into this situation. I'll keep you posted.

 

[mherrcat]

Does the 32 have that much of a stub that the keel bolts onto? I am only familiar with my 30+ which I don't believe has much of a stub at all.

 

[Cory B]

Stub

Does the 32 have that much of a stub that the keel bolts onto? I am only familiar with my 30+ which I don't believe has much of a stub at all.

Our 35-3 does, and I suspect the 32-3 shares that trait. Maybe there is a difference between the RH and BK designs? With the RH being a little more racier and flat bottomed?