Keel Damage E-32

[windjunkee]

Just got the boat back from a very long truck ride and I found damage to the keel. I noticed it as a 2 foot long split on the very underside of the aft part of the keel, but once the yard had set it down on the stand, I guess the pressure on the keel split it open, along a significant portion of the trailing edge of the keel. It doesn't look like too difficult of a repair, but I'm seeking opinions about the best way to deal with it.

I'm attaching a photo of the damage

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

 

[Loren Beach]

Bi-axial Cloth = good stuff!

I would imagine that grinding back each side on an aprox. 12 - 1 slope and applying layers of bi-axial cloth around the opening would do the job.
First route out the crack so you can apply some thickened epoxy inside when you put a bunch of large Jorgenson (sp) clamps on it to get the initial closure done.
The real strength will come from the cloth over the split, though.

We did something very like this for a split rudder on our prior boat, many years ago.

Loren

 

[NateHanson]

Are you concerned about how this might have happened? Is this a result of the boat being dropped, or the keel being hit hard by road debris at 70 mph perhaps?

It would seem to me that the keel wouldn't split like that spontaneously. I'd look carefully for other damage that could have resulted from whatever trauma caused the split.

 

[windjunkee]

Nate,

the 'how' of what happened is a big concern. What I actually saw when she came off the truck and was still suspended in the travel lift, I saw some flaking paint at the bottom of the keel, so I knelt down and saw a split, about 2 feet long and 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide at its widest point. It appeared to have been repaired before because it looked like there was a piece of fiberglass that looked like it might have been epoxied into a gap there.
I asked the guys to block the keel as far forward as they could so that the area would be clear to make the repair, but when the weight of the boat rested on the keel, the rest of the aft end of the keel split open, as if right along a seam in the old fiberglass.
The trucking company has been contacted. I understand something happened at the yard in Mexico, but I am led to believe that it wasn't dropped there. The quote I got at the yard for the repair is about $1,000 so it doesn't make sense to tender a claim to the insurance. The trucking company is going to pick up at least 1/2 and probably all the cost of repair if it stays in that range.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA

 

[Seth]

Split keel

Jim,

Since you have worked with "Choater the boater", I would go straight to Dennis-he is a whiz at this sort of thing. He will find the quickest, best and least expensive fix..Good luck!!

S

 

[Frank Langer]

I have seen rudders split like that, and always understood that it was because they were often made in two halves, epoxied together. But I thought lead keels are a solid piece of lead, with a fibreglass/gelcoat coating. Can someone explain for me how such a keel can split, and whether that is a very rare occurrence?
Thanks,
Frank.

 

[Martin King]

I have seen rudders split like that, and always understood that it was because they were often made in two halves, epoxied together. But I thought lead keels are a solid piece of lead, with a fibreglass/gelcoat coating. Can someone explain for me how such a keel can split, and whether that is a very rare occurrence?
Thanks,
Frank.

Easy,
The 32's keel is encapsulated meaning the hull is laid up in two halves,
the mold bolted together, the seam glassed, and the ballast dropped
into the keel cavity afterwards. The split in this case is along
the seam. Hard to tell if she was dropped, or is just showing
her age.

Martin

 

[Frank Langer]

Thanks, Martin.

Your explanation makes sense.
Thanks,
Frank.

 

[Geoff Johnson]

So did the ballast fall out?

 

[windjunkee]

re ballast falling out,

I was down at the yard all day today and the guys at the yard are doing a pretty good job with the repair so far. Everyone we've talked to denies any knowledge of how it happened, and I suspect someone is lying because . . .
I went into the head to get a bucket out. All around and behind the base of the head, including filling up the cavity behind the head, is easily 50 lbs of tiny lead shot. How did it get there? My best guess is that something happened at the yard in Puerto Vallara and the keel split. Now when I first saw it, there was a split perhaps 2 feet long and 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide. I think a bunch of this lead shot fell out and whomever was involved scooped it up and put it ... behind the head? <shrug>

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32 Hull #134
Redondo Beach, CA