Hello all , I have just finished cutting away to take out keel weldment that the bolt broke off . this one is the port side aft. It looks like the starboard side you would have to cute out part of the floor board is this correct? My question is the other 3 weldments look find I went thru with a 5/16-18 tap to clean them out. They look and feel tight the threads but being a 82 boat should I replace them also? Its a lot of cutting in a very uncomfortable position...
Keel Weldments
- Thread starter little breeze
- Start date
No need to cut the others out if you cleaned them and inspected threads. Complete the replacement of the one you have already done and you should be good to go.
To ensure you have no metal flakes in the other from the tap use compressed air to blow them out well, then use Q-tips with acetone to clean any cutting oil or other reside from them. When installing the new bolts at the time the keel goes back on, Blue Loctite will act as a lubricant for threads and give you a nice water-tite seal. Don't forget the lock washers.
To ensure you have no metal flakes in the other from the tap use compressed air to blow them out well, then use Q-tips with acetone to clean any cutting oil or other reside from them. When installing the new bolts at the time the keel goes back on, Blue Loctite will act as a lubricant for threads and give you a nice water-tite seal. Don't forget the lock washers.
Thank you cloud diver for you advice ILL go ahead and or a new weldment and new bolts. Should I apply locktite on the whole thread length and witch color locktite blue or red?
Thanks Cloud diver. appreciate your help. blue loctite not as strong red is harder to break loose
Red Locktite is more like "impossible" to break loose, without applying a blowtorch to the joined parts, which in the case of a weldment, you really can't do. You don't want to deal with that when it comes time to change the bolts. You may well snap one or more bolts off in the weldment(s).
Use blue.
Use blue.
Gene is right....use blue loctite.The stresses don't warrant using red. You'll break the bolts or rip the weldments out before you could ever remove them if they're sealed with red. The most important thing is that the bolt AND weldment threads are clean and dry before applying loctite. Loctite sells a primer but you can use a cleaner that leaves no residue, like some electrical contact cleaners. Tighten to the correct torque. Can't remember exactly what that (somebody chime in here...) is but remember you're using stainless steel fasteners so check the appropriate resource. Tighten the bolts evenly in small steps until you reach the final desired torque. After that, don't fool with it. The loctite will set up in 24 hours. If you make further applications of torque, you run the risk of breaking the seal that the loctite has formed between the threads.
Tom G
Thank you tom but catalina wants you to anually check the torque wouldnt this break the seal of the locktite?
Apply only the minimum torque specified. For example if the spec is 15 to 18 Ft#, apply no more than 15. The fastener shouldn't turn. If it does, remove it, clean and re-apply loctite and tighten to the middle of the specification.
That's because they normally used lock washers with tef-gel on the threads. That is fine too, but if check the torque annually you should remove the bolts, clean the threads, and reapply new loc-tite each time.
As long as you're checking your keel bolts, why not just replace them? I replace mine every year. There is absolutely no reason NOT to, unless ten minutes of your time and one dollar a year is just too much to be bothered with.
Ten keel bolts, $4.76/pack of 10: https://www.mcmaster.com/#93190a585/=131qwrh
Ten keel bolts, $4.76/pack of 10: https://www.mcmaster.com/#93190a585/=131qwrh
Thanks all, I did order a pack from CD but next time I got your thread saved for my next change of bolts. Cd sends a Loctite its probably blue.
