Follow up: My 302 Keel Seems Fine
A follow up on what I found on my O'Day 302 after some of the recent reports of these boats having problems with their keels...
I had the boat pulled yesterday and can report that the keel looks fine:
[*]The joint between the keel and hull is very, very tight.
[*]I'm getting NO water infiltration from the outside. The bilge has been dry as a bone all summer.
[*]While the boat was on the trailer and resting on rails (not on the keel) I shook the keel very hard -- the entire boat shook with it. I could detect no movement in the keel where it met the hull.
[*]I opened the bilge and carefully checked the keel bolts and the backing plates as another person shook the keel very hard -- no movement whatsoever.
[*]The keel sump depth seems to be very robust -- not as skinny as reported on one of those that failed. This is nice and deep and there's absolutely no signs of any stress at all.
If any of you can suggest some other kind of check, I'd love to hear about it. Given what I've found, I'm very, very reluctant to drop the keel -- I think that could end up causing more problems in the long run. (I do not have a bunch of geniuses among the marina service crew!)
Just thought I'd give you a follow up on what I found. Any thoughts or suggestions from the good people on this forum will be appreciated.
A follow up on what I found on my O'Day 302 after some of the recent reports of these boats having problems with their keels...
I had the boat pulled yesterday and can report that the keel looks fine:
[*]The joint between the keel and hull is very, very tight.
[*]I'm getting NO water infiltration from the outside. The bilge has been dry as a bone all summer.
[*]While the boat was on the trailer and resting on rails (not on the keel) I shook the keel very hard -- the entire boat shook with it. I could detect no movement in the keel where it met the hull.
[*]I opened the bilge and carefully checked the keel bolts and the backing plates as another person shook the keel very hard -- no movement whatsoever.
[*]The keel sump depth seems to be very robust -- not as skinny as reported on one of those that failed. This is nice and deep and there's absolutely no signs of any stress at all.
If any of you can suggest some other kind of check, I'd love to hear about it. Given what I've found, I'm very, very reluctant to drop the keel -- I think that could end up causing more problems in the long run. (I do not have a bunch of geniuses among the marina service crew!)
Just thought I'd give you a follow up on what I found. Any thoughts or suggestions from the good people on this forum will be appreciated.
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