1975 hunter 27 keel bolts

[Bill_r]

Hi,

I am looking at buying a 1976 27' hunter. The boat is in great shape for the most part, and I love everything I've read about the Cherubini Hunters.

One concern I do have though is with the keel bolts. Several of them are a rusty brown and moist to the touch, one of them has a "blister" on the top of the bolt that when pressed on moisture comes out There is some salt water in the bilge that has come in contact with the bolts that could be a source of corrosion.

Anyone ever replaced and/or had problems with the keel bolts on their 27?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Ed Schenck]

You aren't going to replace those bolts Bill. There was/is a coating on my bolts which could cause the blister you are seeing. Water has gotten under that and is not a problem. First step is to get the bilge dry and the bolts all torqued down. And I do not know the foot-pounds. I just keep mine very tight with about a 24" handle on the socket. Then watch to see if you have seepage around any of those big washers.

If there is water getting in that is not too unusual. If just one or two bolts then a sealant under the washer might suffice. Worse case would be to drop the keel a few inches and rebed with 5200.

 

[Bill_r]

Thanks for the quick reply! These bolts were molded into the lead keel, right?

Any way that you know of to check if the bolts have corroded?

Aside from the rusty color, the tops of all the bolts on the boat I'm looking at don't look corroded.

 

[MrUnix]

Our '77 H27 was the same.. and no matter what we did, it seems like there was always a little bit of water down around the bolts in the bilge. I never messed with them other than to make sure they were tight. This was on a full keel version (4 foot 3 inch draft).

As a side note; When we purchased the boat down in the Florida Keys, we needed to tow it from the ocean to the bay side.. the guy running the tow boat wasn't too keen on navigation and took us over an area where there were several submerged pilings and other debris. Of course, Murphys law caught up with us and the keel nailed some unmovable object while being towed at about 8-10 knots. The impact was severe enough to force the bow of the boat a couple feet under water until the keel jumped over the obstacle, and it about threw us out of the boat. Once in it's slip, I checked the keel bolts in the bilge, and dove overboard to examine the keel. The only damage I could find was a little 'ding' on the leading edge of the keel where it had chipped some paint and made a little dime size indentation. Never worried about the strength of the keel or it's bolts after that

Cheers,
Brad

 

[Bill_r]

Thanks for the story Brad, I've heard these boats were built like tanks.

We went to look at the boat again today, here are our concerns:

1)The aforementioned keel bolts. Upon further review, the tops of the three starboard bolts all appear to be corroded to where I can put the tip of my finger down inside the top nut.

2)The water coming into the bilge is from a badly leaking stuffing box. Rather than dripping a few times a minute, there is a small but constant stream of water flowing out of it.

3)The owner hasn't had the boat out of the water in two years since their purchase, and therefore haven't painted the bottom, or changed the propeller zincs.

The pluses are that the boat is solid on deck, the rigging and sails are in good shape, the standing rigging looks fine, there are tons of extras on board (parts and tools), upgraded electrical, engine is okay.

What to do....

 

[Ed Schenck]

Not sure we ever learned whether those bolts are 'J' hooks or 'L' hooks. Either way they are imbedded deep in the lead of the keel. Is there anyone that you can trust with the knowledge to check those? Seems like the only real issue. At least once you tighten the stuffing box and stop the water flow.

 

[Bill_r]

I guess our bigger concern with the flow of water from the stuffing box is that it has been like that for a couple of years, so the keel bolts have been sitting in the water.

Unfortunately, we don't know anyone locally as we are from out of state looking at some boats. The obvious choice would be to hire a marine surveyor, but due to the low cost of this boat we were hoping to avoid spending the extra on a surveyor.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[saltydawg]

if you need some one to take a look at the boat just ask, most sailors will gladly go look for you. its not a survey but most people can tell you run or look closer. sailnet has a thread just for things like this, sailors willing to give a boat the eye ball to make sure it has no real obvious problems.

i would go to the general sailing page here and post a thread looking for another set of eyes, it might cost you a cheap lunch but most likely nothing.

 

[tomgrigsby]

If the nuts aren't rotted away there's no reason to think there is a problem with the bolts. A bit of salt water in the bilge isn't abnormal, and none of these Cherubini Hunters has exhibited a tendency for keel bolt failure that I'm aware of. From your description, I wouldn't lose any sleep over the bolts. Just work on getting the water sources stopped and enjoy.

 

[Jimboyyy]

when we bought our '83 27 there was water in the bilge and the problem was the same with the stuffing box...this past summer I finally fixed the stuffing box issue. The keel bolts do not seem to have been affected.

 

[Bill_r]

Tom, your logic regarding the nuts not rotting makes perfect sense, thanks!

Thanks for your input Jimboyyy, glad to hear you have not had any problems!

 

[jphud]

Hunter gave me this info on keel bolt nut torque.


1/2" bolts with 3/4 nut 45 ft lbs
5/8" bolts 5/16 nut 97 ft lbs
3/4" bolts 1 1/8 nut 132 ft
1" bolts 1 1/2 nut 325 ft lbs

 

[Ed Schenck]

Thanks JP, that's a keeper and already filed.

Saugerties? You are way up there. I used to live in Hyde Park and work in Kingston so know the area.

 

[jphud]

Did you sail up here?

 

[MLampner]

Gentlemen never thought of sailing that far up the Hudson. When I was a kid my parents used to go to Sacks Lodge in Saugerties, wonder if its still even there.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Never sailed on the Hudson when I lived in Hyde Park those seven years. Not sure why since I did have a friend who lived on his boat in Rhinecliff. My sailing then was on a small CT lake just across the NY border. I did sail through there on my way from Lake Erie to Tampa. Spent a few days in Kingston with a rental car. There are some really wide sections of the Hudson but I expect mountains on both sides make for some pretty flukey winds. We mostly motored from the Erie Canal to the NY Harbor.

 

[sandpiper10471]

Bill r: I am not satisfied with the keel bolt comments. Corroded bolts could be serious. Any chance you could post a couple of photos of the bolts for us? at least one macro included?
Could save over a thousand words!!!!

Hunter also, on some models, possibly later ones, used straight bolts which threaded into an iron keel and were wrapped in cotton. I doubt they ever used that system with lead.