Hey Everyone,
I recently acquired a Catalina 25 with a Wing Keel from a friend for free. The boat is in surprisingly good shape except for the keel. The keel itself is in amazing shape with no pitting or signs of major rust, but the adhesive that joins the keel to the hull seems to have failed and has revealed a gap between the keel and hull. You can see in the photo that adhesive is partially hanging off. The keel bolts seem to be fine, tight and rust free. The previous owner (a commercial diver) swears that the keel is solid and has no wiggle or movement of any kind. I have deduced that the boat was originally a Swing Keel model and at some point the Wing Keel was added. I'm not quite sure how to proceed. I'm tempted to just strip as much of the old adhesive, clean up the joint and add new 4200 or similar, slap some bottom paint on and see how it works until this fall when I haul out. After haul out I can really get into it and see what's going on. Possibly drop the keel, grind everything back, reattach properly and glass over the joint. I'd appreciate any advice, banter and above all constructive criticism!
Thanks so much!
Chris
I recently acquired a Catalina 25 with a Wing Keel from a friend for free. The boat is in surprisingly good shape except for the keel. The keel itself is in amazing shape with no pitting or signs of major rust, but the adhesive that joins the keel to the hull seems to have failed and has revealed a gap between the keel and hull. You can see in the photo that adhesive is partially hanging off. The keel bolts seem to be fine, tight and rust free. The previous owner (a commercial diver) swears that the keel is solid and has no wiggle or movement of any kind. I have deduced that the boat was originally a Swing Keel model and at some point the Wing Keel was added. I'm not quite sure how to proceed. I'm tempted to just strip as much of the old adhesive, clean up the joint and add new 4200 or similar, slap some bottom paint on and see how it works until this fall when I haul out. After haul out I can really get into it and see what's going on. Possibly drop the keel, grind everything back, reattach properly and glass over the joint. I'd appreciate any advice, banter and above all constructive criticism!
Thanks so much!
Chris
