We just hauled our 1976 Irwin 37 CC sloop for what we thought was going to be a routine bottom job and shaft log replacement. When the yard hoisted the boat, the rear strap was under the aft end of the 3/4 keel. When they lifted it the fiberglass crushed in about an inch. After they set it off, they pointed out that the whole bottom two feet of the keel had become de-laminated. Once the crushed section was torn away it was clear that the keel was made out of cement. It looks like the cement was poured into the mold and then glassed in from above. There is a 1-2" gap between the top of the cement and the bottom of the fiberglass "hull" once the de-laminated sections were removed. It also looks like some repairs have been made to this keel in the past. Whatever the case we are looking at some expensive repair. Has anyone else been through this before?
Concrete Keel on Irwin 37
- Thread starter stevee9259
- Start date
- Status
Not exactly, but I have discovered the concrete shoe on the bottom part of the keel. It seems to me (my guess is) that Irwin made all his 37 hulls in the same hull mold, whether they were centerboard, shoal draft (4'), or the std 5'-6" to 6' draft keels, and that was the basic mold for the 4' draft hull and then ballast was poured into that hull and glassed over inside and above the ballast. Then for the deeper keels he added a shoe of concrete and glassed over it encapsulating the shoe as he had done above.
My boat was a little newer (1980 MK V) and I don't believe my space was as great as yours, but my problem was caused by a minor grounding on a gravel bar that infringed into a marked channel. I went up on it under power and was hung up on it for about 15-20 minutes during which time A section of glass about 1 foot long underneath and along one side, and up about 6 inches high got ground badly enough that it flooded my shoe and leaked and caused big water blisters all around the shoe. I let the boat sit to drain it on 2 separate occasions and never solved the problem. Water still got in and leaked out. I finally had the whole shoe re-glassed with extra glass (I didn't remove all the previous glass however) and I seem to have solved the problem. You gan see the different color paint in the picture.
You may possibly get some better information by contacting Gene Gammon direct as he was a production manager for Irwin for many years.
http://www.irwinyachts.com/
Good Luck
Joe S
My boat was a little newer (1980 MK V) and I don't believe my space was as great as yours, but my problem was caused by a minor grounding on a gravel bar that infringed into a marked channel. I went up on it under power and was hung up on it for about 15-20 minutes during which time A section of glass about 1 foot long underneath and along one side, and up about 6 inches high got ground badly enough that it flooded my shoe and leaked and caused big water blisters all around the shoe. I let the boat sit to drain it on 2 separate occasions and never solved the problem. Water still got in and leaked out. I finally had the whole shoe re-glassed with extra glass (I didn't remove all the previous glass however) and I seem to have solved the problem. You gan see the different color paint in the picture.
You may possibly get some better information by contacting Gene Gammon direct as he was a production manager for Irwin for many years.
http://www.irwinyachts.com/
Good Luck
Joe S
Attachments
- Status