Keel Support Question E-29

[John Bernhard]

I have an Ericson 29 and in reviewing the hull, checked the bilge and noticed no or what appeared to be rusted out keel bolts. Two of them, each in a separate section of the bilge. Now I am freaked out I might drop my keel and roll the boat!!! Since my wife prefers to sail dry, does anyone know about the connection/construction of the keel?

 

[Mark F]

Hi John,

Welcome. The bolts you see were for lowering the lead into the hull, they are not keel bolts. The keel is encapsulated within the hull, there are no keel bolts.

 

[Loren Beach]

Posts moved...

I have an Ericson 29 and in reviewing the hull, checked the bilge and noticed no or what appeared to be rusted out keel bolts. Two of them, each in a separate section of the bilge. Now I am freaked out I might drop my keel and roll the boat!!! Since my wife prefers to sail dry, does anyone know about the connection/construction of the keel?

Hope no one minds, but a new question seems to merit a new thread.
Loren

 

[Randy Rutledge]

The E-29 is a strong boat and will take care of you if you do your part.
The only concern with the E29 keel is that the back foot or so in hollow and is open all the way down to the bottom of the keel. If the keel is fractured in the hollow part it will leak. There have been several discussions of how to fill the hollow portion of the keel. This part of the keel is very strong but is the most vulnerable part of the E29 hull.

The keel can take a lot, the urban legend has it that my boat was run “ayard”. We hit a lee shore after a missed tack in a storm and were almost in a yard. NO DAMMAGE.

I spoke with Aero Marine about using their high density pour in foam to fill the keel hollow but they suggested a mixture of epoxy resin and as much sand as could be wetted. The sand would prevent the heat up of a large pour of resin and reduce the cost greatly. This is on my list of things to do.

 

[AleksT]

Randy,
Did Aero give you any numbers on how much the foam would cost?
I have been considering filling the open area behind the lead on my E27, and have read posts about filling with concrete and now sand.
I am assuming the designer of the boat left weight out of this area of the fin for a reason. It is a small amount of volume that needs to be filled so anything won't have significant amount of weight.
To me it would seem that foam would be the lightest alternative and so keeping with the designers intentions. There would be minimal heat with a foam reaction so that would be less of a worry. And closed cell foam will still be reasonably waterproof.
So we get back to price. Is the foam so outrageously expensive?

 

[Randy Rutledge]

The 8 LB foam is $35 per 1/2 cubic foot and the 4 LB foam is $35 for 1 cubic foot. The problem is that the foam will hold water and in the E-29 or E-27 deep bilge there will always be water there. You don't have to worry about freezing in your location so foam might work.
They suggested that the epoxy and sand mix would give fill with not a lot of weight added and would not hold water it will also slump into the bilge to form a smooth sealed surface where the foam will puff up in the center with cavities at the edges. Sand and epoxy will probably cost more but will give a solid fill and be easier to keep the bilge cleaned out. I plan to fill only about half to two thirds of the deep bilge.

I will fill the bilge with water to the level I want, pump the water into a bucket and determine the volume I need to use.

 

[ptsbug]

happy to see construction technique

We are considering the purchase of an E29 and know from the previous boat broker that the keel could have a small crack in the lower section.
My plan was to have a surveyor verify the dryness of the keel interior then eopxy repait the bottom of the keel.
After reading this post, I feel much more at ease with the construction of the boat and feel it may be worth investigation.

P.S.
I previously located a 29 on this site that had excellent pictures showing the boat after all of the owners hard work, white hull and white deck with beautiful teak work including the haches. Kids were in the some of the pics if I remember correctly..
Can anyone direct me to the pictures?
I'm unable to locate and would like them for visual reference.
I will be on this site often if we agree on the price and it passes survey.
Thanks