Crack Between Keel and Hull

[Frank]

There is a crack developing in keel approx. 2.5 inches below the hull. It started as a small crack and -- each year it appears to be getting longer. The crack is present in both the following and traiing edge.The keel bolt are tight and there is no water in the bildge.Have you experienced this problem and if so, what action has been taken? Can send digital pictures if you want to see the crack.

 

[Doug T.]

Me too!?

I was just taking a close look at my keep. It's solid lead, but on the port side there's a bulge that's about 2 or 3 inches below the hull. The bulge is about 10 inches long, about 1.5 inches high and it sticks out about 1/4"-1/2" In the middle of the bulge there's a crack. It doesn't go the whole length -- it's discontinuous.The starboard side is fine.What could be the cause of this???(I haven't checked the tightness of my keelbolts yet, but I do know that three of them weep a very small amount of water when the boat's in the water.)

 

[Steve Dion]

Check post for the last couple of weeks.

Frank:There was a thread going in the last couple of weeks on this exact subject. If the keel is NOT loose, it is just a matter of caulking and faring in the hull/keel joint. This is fairly common, especially if there has been a grounding. The faring compound that was there is starting to fall out.

 

[Tom Lukas]

28.5 keel crack

Been there, done that with my 87' 28.5I used interlux 2 part epoxy, cleaned out the old stuff and its been fine for the last two years.tom

 

[Ron Honeycutt]

Crack

A lot of the Hunter owners I have talked to with boats in the 28.5 to 37.5 range with iron keels have mentioned a crack between the surface of the keel and the hull shelf where it attaches. I had a small crack about 4 inches long on my 30 on the trailing edge. When I had my boat hauled out I cleaned it out, filled with epoxy and then put 4 layers of fiberglass cloth over it with further fairing. It has held like that for 4 years.Best thing to do is make sure you don't have a more serious problem with water infilteration to the keel bolts as this could cause crevice corrison. You may have to get an expert to look at. If not the fix like I did may help if it more cosmetic.