This is my second winter with 'Shark Bait' (yes, I let my daughter name her, small price to pay for a happy 'tween!). I noticed cracks in the keel the first spring, so filled them with epoxy and antifouled over. Come haulout time, everything was just as you would hope it to be. In the first few months on the hard it rained and water got into the bilge, where it froze before I could pump it out. I came back at the first thaw, and noticed two things; the bilge was empty and the cracks had returned in the keel.
My conclusion is this: there is a hole between the bilge and the interior space where the ballast is. When the bilge filled, the water ran down into this void, and when it froze, this water expanded sideways and cracked the fibreglass keel (see image).
My plan is to wait until spring, make sure the water is out of the void, patch it up again and go sail. However, if there was a way to find and fix the hole between bilge and ballast I'd like to do that.
Happy to be told I'm wrong, happy for any input.
And yes, next winter I will get the cover on sooner, and try and find where the rain is leaking into the bilge.
My conclusion is this: there is a hole between the bilge and the interior space where the ballast is. When the bilge filled, the water ran down into this void, and when it froze, this water expanded sideways and cracked the fibreglass keel (see image).
My plan is to wait until spring, make sure the water is out of the void, patch it up again and go sail. However, if there was a way to find and fix the hole between bilge and ballast I'd like to do that.
Happy to be told I'm wrong, happy for any input.
And yes, next winter I will get the cover on sooner, and try and find where the rain is leaking into the bilge.