Swing Keel / Centerboard removal & maintenance: Hunter 22

[ksetchfield]

Hi Everyone,

With the nice weather this weekend, I got to the marina and pulled the keel off my 1983 Hunter 22. It was really loose so I figured that the nylon bushing had worn and will need replacement.

Removal was straightforward since the boat is on blocks & stands in the yard and not on the trailer yet. Better to do it now than this summer when I am keeping it on the single-axle new trailer.

So I've taken a bunch of photos of the keel and I'm thinking about how to proceed. It looks to me like the bushing may have already been removed and replaced. I just bought this boat in November, and the previous owner said that she had a total refit in 2003. So it's possible that the person also replaced the nylon bushing at that time. The reason that I suspect this is because one of the sides of the bushing hole looks like it has broken resin in it. I am thinking that when the keel was new that the bushing was fiberglassed in on both sides and that no resin would have been used unless a repair had been done. Maybe I am wrong on this. I'm attaching a photo here that shows the resin.

 

[ksetchfield]

Now here's the other side. I don't see resin in this side. It's pretty torn up though. Deep inside I can see the nylon busing and it is visibly deformed.

The plan is to remove the nylon bushing by picking a side to chip or sand away the surface until I can get at the bushing. Then I think I'll flip it over and then punch it out with a dowel from the other side.

My first thing to consider is which side to clean out in order to remove the bushing. I should really repair both sides, and maybe I should really get all that old cracked resin out of the first side. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

 

[ksetchfield]

Here are some other views of the keel that should show the other problem areas that I am going to have to address.

Here are the port and starboard sides and the aft end of the tip which is delaminating. The last photo shows that the shape of the tip is thoroughly destroyed from about 1/3 of the way from the leading edge towards the trailing edge. You may be able to make out a pocket/cavity that appears to be left over from a previous repair job, but I don't know for sure.

So I'll need to repair the fiberglass/re-laminate the separated layers and rebuild the shape of the tip with some filler material of some kind.

 

[ksetchfield]

Lastly, here are a series of photos of the leading edge. There is a large area that is slightly delaminating at the top of the leading edge. This is the part of the keel that would strike ground if the boat were to run aground with the keel retracted. So this is probable repetitive minor impact damage. It was heavily fouled and I only quickly scraped off the barnacles.

The rest of the leading edge is just showing the seams between fiberglass layers. They are really delaminating anywhere, but they are not sealed at all. The entire length of the leading edge has exposed seams that should be sealed and covered. Perhaps it would be good to affix a 1" - 2" wide strip of bronze or stainless steel to the entire leading edge as protection against impact, and sliding/grinding over logs/rocks/etc... I'd have to form it perfectly to match the contours of the leading edge, but It could save a similar repair to the fiberglass board in the future.

The other photos show the rest of the leading edge and two small impact spots that have left minor bruises on the lower end of the keel's leading edge. These should be minor to fix but should be ground out and repaired anyway. These are in the last two photos.

I've only done fiberglass repair once before, and I picked it up quickly enough. That was on holes in a hull on a 14 footer. I have never done repairs on something like this where I'll have to shape edges and seams. I'm reading up about the process, but any advice would be very appreciated.

 

[Capt Mike]

Hi, I own an 84 model H-22, Exactly a year ago (spring' 09) I pulled my keel , it was also very loose and sloppy. Found the nylon bushing badly worn and the stainless pin had some wear. Be careful, not sure on your model but my "84" the nylon bushing is only imbedded in half the keel so it only comes out on one side of the keel, there was a thin coating of fiberglass to hold it in on one side. I chipped out the fiberglass and used a drift punch to pound the nylon bushing out from the opposite side. Being that I have the boat only in fresh-water,went to a local machine-shop and had a new brass bushing and stainless pin made. Re-installed them, fiberglassed around the bushing to hold it in, the oppisite side of the keel was all worn oversized so I greased the new pin good and poured fiberglass around the pin to fill the hole, after it hardened I tapped the pin out and sanded the glass so it's flush with the keel. If your in salt water you probably need to stay with a nylon bushing! Used my boat all last season and the keel worked great!! Really made it quiet, no more listening to the keel banging while sitting in my slip..Hope this info helps. Mike

 

[ksetchfield]

Thanks for sharing your experience Mike. It looks like mine is the same as yours was. I have to get a grinder today, and then I'll be able to get in there and open up the bushing hole to extract it. I'll probably open both sides since both are so cracked.

Kristopher

 

[ksetchfield]

Well, today I got the tools I'll need to grind away at the keel/centerboard. I started with a scraper and scraped one whole side. Damn that's a lot of work! It took off the main blue anti-fouling paint and got down to a smoother and lighter-blue coat of paint underneath. I guess I'll do the other side next.

Then I suppose I'll take to it with my new sander to grind down the fiberglass parts that have de-laminated. I've been thinking that perhaps I shouldn't do that though. Maybe I should just epoxy them back down as-is and c-clamp them to make a nice good seal and then build them up with new fiberglass from there.

Any input is welcome!

Thanks,
Kristopher

 

[Capt Mike]

Hi Kristopher, My keel didn't have very much delamination, what little I did have I just stood the keel on end, mixed some liquid fiberglass, poured it over and in the delamination to let it soak in and harden and then sanded it to form a nice round contour to the keel then painted with anti-fouling paint...Not sure if this would work in your case or not ? Sorry I never thought to take any pictures while doing mine! Good luck, Mike

 

[ksetchfield]

So I've done an initial sanding of the board. I've taken it down through the gelcoat to the fiberglass along the leading edge and bottom tip, but man it takes a long time to grind that far down into the board.

In the spots where there were nicks on the leading edge I ground down a lot more in order to get past all the black and brown spots and into good white foam or clear fiberglass. Maybe I don't need to do this, but I suspect that since it's discolored that the water infiltration must have some weakening effect. Even if it's not weakening it now, I suspect that down the road it would. I could be wrong on this. Some people would probably just have filled the cracks with epoxy and painted over them. But I can't see doing a cob job like that. Why do I have to be so thorough?! There's more sanding to do if I'm going to take the whole thing down to the fiberglass. Maybe this isn't necessary and I can get by with just sanding down to the fiberglass around the damage at the tip and the leading edge. Any thoughts anyone?

Pictures to come the next time I get a chance.

 

[ksetchfield]

Here are some quick pictures of the centerboard / swing keel for my Hunter 22. As you can see, even after I scraped the whole board there is still blue on it over the white gelcoat. That blue is super hard to get off. You can't scrape it, but you can sand through it.

Notice the foam underneath the fiberglass. That shows how the board is made: a foam core encased in fiberglass. The foam is really dense hard stuff...I mean really hard.

At the upper tip of the board (where a keel strike would occur if you ran aground with the keel retracted), there was so much infiltration of water into the board that I really had to remove a lot of foam until I got to all white. I probably removed an inch of foam underneath the compromised fiberglass. I'll have to build this all back up with epoxy or fiberglass to re-create the shape or hydrofoil of the board. Hopefully it won't be too much work to do.

Any recommendations on the filler would be appreciated. I expect I'll just use epoxy or many many layers of fiberglass. What about bondo?

Kristopher

 

[souljour2000]

hope your keel came out okay...sounds like you did a good thorough job...I have a Hunter 20 with an iron keel...it was hard to check the bushings...I am considering ways to make the keel permanent in the "up" position and add a "forefoot" with some lead in front of it and a bit more lead on the bottom of the keel area before I glass it all in...big job though..I have already scrapped the pop-top roof and companionway bulkhead...added a new hard coachroof and extended the cabin a foot and made the new bulkhead perpendicular instead of angled forward...also widened out the seats so you can sleep in the cockpit and raised the comananionway at least a foot higher to prevent water ingress...lots of work...then more grinding of gelcoat...then some more...I will post pics maybe...or email me at souljour2000@yahoo.com if your interested

 

[armesy1954]

Hi Kristopher, Man those photos of your center board are really helping. I have an '81 that a PO has glassed in the board in what appears to be the retracted position. I began to grind/cut it out today. At least I know now what shape to be looking for as I work. Some questions, though that may sound dumb... On a 'normal' 22 with the swing keel, is the well cut out flush with the bottom of the hull? Where is the hinge point located? Where can I find a reasonably detailed picture/drawing of the retraction system. I've some messy work ahead of me, but at this point it looks like more labor than $. Oh, and does your keel have lead/steel running down the leading edge?
Thanks and good speed on your project.
Tim

 

[ksetchfield]

Hey Tim & Souljour,

Thanks for the replies to my post. It's nice to know people are reading and that it's worth posting. Tim, the best thing I know of to help you is by John Ross and is available here:

http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=6178&Itemid=257

I don't have any photos that detail the centerboard trunk from underneath the boat. The way I found the location of the swing keel brackets/pin/pivot point was by taking up the floor boards in the cabin and finding the four bolts that hold the centerboard onto the boat. They are close to the bulkhead.

Souljour, you are really taking the custom route with your topsides and interior aren't you! Aren't you worried about taking out the bulkhead? Have you done any reinforcing to compensate for the loss of its reinforcing effect on the hull (keeping it from twisting/cracking the gelcoat/etc..)? Sleeping outside on the cockpit cushions is great, isn't it. I met one guy who put a mosquito net over the cockpit and it was his bedroom in dry weather. Got any photos of your project that you've posted somewhere or could post for us to see? Hey, do you take you boat out of the water or is it in year round?

 

[inarathree]

I am looking at a H-22 for sale locally. The current owner states that the bushing and pin should probably be replaced. Is there a rebuild kit available, and where can I get one?

Regards,

MC

 

[newsailor130]

you can buy the stainless steel (find marine quality) dowel in a lot of places. I bought a foot of nylon dowel from www.mcmaster.com. I still have extra i can send you. i had the local machine shop cut it to 2 1/8" inches and drill a 1/2" actually i did 9/16", hole in the center. that's really all you need. clean up the retaining plates, get new screws, washers and lock nuts. someone else online recommended sealing up with 5200.