ballast question

[Mark]

I bought a '76 22 ft. oday that seeps water out of the corner of the keel. How does it attach to hull? Is it a cavity filled with iron, etc.? I enlarged a hole for the manual bilge pump, and was able to get ahold of a couple of tire weights. Is this normal? Could the previous owner have added a bunch of weight? The area left in bilge is about 10" deep. I was looking for keel bolts. Any help is appreciated. ps. Brand new car radial tires bulge so that I'm almost riding on the side walls.

 

[Don Evans]

Keel Query

The OD22 has an encapsulated keel, no bolts. The factory used lead ingots, placed in pockets created in the fiberglass, but other 22 owners have added further ballast to the top of the keel via the bilge to increase stability thus the lead tire weights. The leaking keel is of concern though as this likely means water is entering from a crack in the fiberglass encapsulated keel. Look for a crack higher up on the keel, near the hull, as a previous owner may have smacked the keel hard breaking the fiberglass bond.Don

 

[Mark]

Thanks

Thanks for the input. I don't see any obvious damage to keel, but will look more closely after I get anti-fouling paint off. There wasa lot of water in bilge for who knows how many years(last licensed in '95), and I suspect freeze damage, but will be on lookout for more. My main concern was having to try to get keel bolts out after all the years of water and corrosion.There is an iron-looking residue where water has been dripping.  Where do you sail? also a 22'oday?

 

[Don Evans]

Re- thought

Since you mentioned lots of water laying in the bilge, then perhaps this has soaked the voids in the keel area and it is bleeding out with time. When you lay the boat up this fall you may want to drill some further weep holes from the outside in the keel area to help it along (sounds counter intuitive I know). These can be plugged and patched next spring. I wouldn't worry about it this summer. Post your questions at the O'Day site as there are a lot of 22 owners their. I sail a OD25 out of central Ontario. We may as yet have a sailing season, maybe.Don