Questions on Ericson 33 Keel Grounding Damage

[zipfactor]

Hi All,

First time poster here.

I'm interested in a 1982 Ericson 33, though she needs a bit of work. One issue of note is some grounding damage to keel on the bottom and trailing edge. Looking at the hull-to-keel joint as well the forward edge and aft edge where the keel stub meets the hull does not show any signs of cracking/compression damage or separation. The interior grid in the bilge area doesn't show any signs of cracking either.

My question: is the grounding damage in the attached picture bad? My initial thoughts, along with the facts mentioned above, that it is fairly minor and can be faired back into shape. Epoxy barrier layer with thickened epoxy to fill seemed like a good method of attack.

Thanks in advance!

-Ben

P.S. Full disclosure, this is cross-posted on another forum. It was mentioned that I may receive more pertinent information on this site.

 

[Kenneth K]

Are you sure that was grounding damage? Looks a lot like what was on my boat--damage from loading and offloading on a trailer much like that one every season.

 

[zipfactor]

Thanks for the reply Ken.

Honestly I don't know what the damage was from, just assumed grounding. The owner isn't around for questioning.

It's probably better in some ways that it may be loading/unloading damage.

Did you ever attempt repairs? Any thoughts on methods, materials, and rough costs would be appreciated.

 

[Loren Beach]

These are well engineered boats; "tough boats" as they say.
To my untrained eye it looks like the bottom of the lead was allowed to grind a while on something hard like a rock. Interesting that the damage is focused more toward the rear of the keel and not the front.

While not the same problem, perhaps not too different than the major ding in the bottom of the leading edge of our keel that was there when we did the purchase survey. It was the size of a baseball. :0 Right into the lead.

Surveyor surmised that the original owner might have plowed into some rip rap, but he could not be contacted directly (ongoing medical problems) so conjecture was all we had.
Once trucked home the local yard faired it with a grinder where the lead was bulged out a bit and filled/faired the hole with thickened epoxy. That was over 20 years ago. No sign of any repair since.

Aside: Lead is really the "right stuff" for keels even tho it costs more than the rust-prone iron used by low end builders. Lead is denser, thinner in cross section, and better righting moment, too.

Time to get out the right-angle grinder, put on your bunny suit and a mask and issue a stern "shape up" command to that recalcitrant lead!

 

[bgary]

thickened epoxy to fill

Hard to tell how big the ding is from the angle of the photo, but... if the surface of the repair is more than a few square inches, I might consider embedding some reinforcement in the area before filling it. Like, maybe drilling a hole in the back edge and epoxying a length of threaded rod in place before adding the thickened epoxy filler.

My thought is that there isn't a lot of surface area for the epoxy to adhere to, and that area (lower corner of the trailing edge) of the keel gets a fair amount of hydrodynamic pressure, so... if not reinforced, a simple chunk of epoxy faired to shape may not stay on.

No real experience here, just a random thought.

Bruce

 

[Christian Williams]

Sledge hammer. Then a grinder, if you gotta have perfection.

 

[Kenneth K]

Here are before and after pics of my boat. PO kept it trailered every off-season. Keel is damaged on leading and trailing edges much like yours. If I were going to keep trailering the boat, I would have someone "round-off" and fair the leading and trailing edges of the keel bottom--that seems to be where the trailer damages the keel.



I keep the boat in the water year round, so I paid to have a repair done as soon as I got the boat. Damage to keel was cosmetic only. Sounds like you already know how to inspect the hull for a real keel strike. Here are pics of how they repaired mine.


Good as new......

 

[zipfactor]

Excellent! Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Rocinante33]

Zip,

You have gotten some good comments so far but I would like to add a couple more.

If the damage was due to a grounding you may have some mushrooming of the lead and Christian’s comment about using a hammer on it would be well founded if that’s the case. The lead is quite malleable and can be hammered back into place so that only a thin epoxy layer would be needed to make it smooth again.

It looks as though there could be some galvanic action going on there though. If that is the case, has much material been lost? I would prod and poke the lead around the damaged area with an awl or an ice pick to make sure tha material is solid. The lead is somewhat soft, so don’t go poking it too hard but just make sure it isn’t Swiss cheese before you clean it up and fair it.

This could be a good time to add a Mars Metals lead bulb to that keel but that might be a big expense.

 

[zipfactor]

Thanks for the suggestion Keith. I'll check next time I'm the boat.

I noticed that you have a 33 as well. Any problem areas to specifically check for on these boats. I'm doing my final inspection soon and want to cover the bases.

 

[zipfactor]

Sledge hammer. Then a grinder, if you gotta have perfection.

I just now realized that you are THE Mr. Williams of YouTube fame. Big fan, my wife and I enjoy your videos very much!

 

[Tom Metzger]

I just now realized that you are THE Mr. Williams of YouTube fame. Big fan, my wife and I enjoy your videos very much!

Oh s**t! There will no living with him now. Why did you have to call him "Mr."?

 

[fool]

Oh s**t! There will no living with him now. Why did you have to call him "Mr."?

I do believe he said THE Mr. Williams and not Mr. Christian!

Not THE Mr. Christian anyway...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher_Christian

 

[Christian Williams]

What was it Shelley said? "I fall upon the thorns of life. I bleed!"

But not from any insult of familiar rascals, but from, during a pleasant dinner of octopus and quail just now not a mile from Santa Monica Bay, the news that Barnes and Noble are closing the three-story flagship bookstore two blocks from my favorite restaurant. Closing it forever, in deference to the new world new generations have thrust upon us, where the Bounty Trilogy is now available only by, as we used to say, the mail.

I should be magnanimous as befits my age, but the loss is heavy. No bookstores, what? How shall we live? How shall we commune, century by century, from triremes to galleons to whalers and ships of the line, to steamers and sloops and teak-ceilinged yachts?

I suppose we'll muck on, trimming to the wind that blows. But there is a loss, and it is the handling of the stories in their bindings, and the handing them over to others, and the living in the presence of the past as if it were an ever-mending day, light from pages in the encroaching dark.

Books will on, I know that. But when they come in the mails, they come alone. I will miss the touch of a shoulder in a crowded row, a pretty girl, a shared moment, "do you know Nordhoff and Hall? Oh, you ought, my dear. Good reading, and as you may quickly see, Bligh is more than is thought."

 

[toddster]

"...by mail..." How 1990's quaint. These books are out of copyright: you can simply download them to your iThing for free. Or if your search skilz are weak, you can "buy" them from Amazon and the like for a $1 convenience fee. No wonder bookstores are reinventing or disappearing. The upside is that we can now carry a virtually unlimited library on the boat.