Catalina keel bolt help asap please .

[Woodyapex]

Woody is the wire shown in the first picture a bonding wire? Is this standard practice and why did not the zincs and bronze parts corrode first? Glad you are on top of it.
Rb your repair was very well done. If the original plywood was used as a filler, is G 10 overkill? Would rigid foam work if the areas under the washers was filled with epoxy to take the compression?

Yes it is a bonding wire and it worries me a little . That bolt was rusted the whole way through !
I'm still getting rusty water in bilge , meaning something is corroding it .
What do you suggest to stop this .
More zincs ? Where do I put them ? Thanks

 

[Elysium_Van_Isl]

Bonding is a fairly complex topic. I know that there are camps for it and camps against. If you take a few minutes to search this site
you'll find some good threads discussing it. In fact, I think the last time I stumbled on a bonding thread was just by 'browsing' through MaineSail's posts. He's an absolute god on this site and holds more know-how in that noggin than 3/4 of the PacificNW mechanics/electricians combined! But be warned... Reading his threads leads to a love-hate complex. I am sooo grateful for his guidance and well written posts, but hate the fact that I then cannot argue for a less than perfect solution to whatever my issue is. Usually when I read one of his threads, a light bulb goes on and then, after a pause, I mutter quietly, shi*....
Makes for some awkward conversations with the wife!
......."You spent WHAT!?!?"

 

[rbmcintire]

Woody is the wire shown in the first picture a bonding wire? Is this standard practice and why did not the zincs and bronze parts corrode first? Glad you are on top of it.
Rb your repair was very well done. If the original plywood was used as a filler, is G 10 overkill? Would rigid foam work if the areas under the washers was filled with epoxy to take the compression?

My thought was to devise a full backing plate system. On our boat, Catalina methods originally bore the keel bolt loading through two 3/4" plywood layers. I don't think they were just used as filler (and that's just my un-informed opinion.) While it was supposed to remain encapsulated, we know how that worked... I think it's better to spread the loading out. Also, Catalina's lay-up spec didn't build back the full 1.5" that I removed, so I went with the G-10 layers to restore the rest of that. It's a super dense material that does take effort to shape.The cost of G-10 is not that much and is readily available at McMaster-Carr online. To my thinking it is a simpler, stronger system, and totally impervious to water.

 

[njlarry]

Yes it is a bonding wire and it worries me a little . That bolt was rusted the whole way through !
I'm still getting rusty water in bilge , meaning something is corroding it .
What do you suggest to stop this .
More zincs ? Where do I put them ? Thanks

First I am no expert but I am in the don't bond camp. If that wire was connected to the shaft then a second zinc could be added if one zinc wasted too quickly. If not connected to the shaft then a zinc on the keel as somewhere that bonding wire should carry stray current to a sacrificial zinc. I believe that the common practice is not to have any wires connected to a keel bolt except a lightning ground from the mast and stays. But as I said, I'm no Mainsail.
The Nigel Caldor book on marine maintenance and Don Caseys book on marine electronics are great references on bonding along with super article on the boat us site by Stan Honey. Those three all converted me to the don't bond camp.

 

[JAM3]

Does anyone know the size ( socket size ) of the nuts used on the keel bolts?