I am the owner of an old (1974) C&C 30 which I am interested in restoring. I have just begun the process of the restoration and have come up with a challenge that has befuddled me. For background, I have been a sailor for 60 years and have owned nine boats, two of which were C&C's. I've always admired the lines and the sailing qualities of C&C's and wanted to bring one "back to life" , as it were. I have done most of the maintenance on my boats over the years and have some background in the care and feeding of boats. This boat appears to be in rough shape but was very inexpensive to purchase. On balance, it appears that most of its systems are repairable though it will take a lot of effort to do so. The problem that I've discovered is that the lead keel (which has been faired over a number of times in the last forty years) has begun to split at the trailing edge. In the last month as I've removed all the hull coatings, the split has widened and grown deeper into the lead casting. I've never encountered anything like this and I need help understanding what the cause is and what to do about it. Can you possibly help me in this?
Cracking Lead Keel
- Thread starter Old C&C Owner
- Start date
- Status
Captn TJ
I have tightened up all the keel bolts. Only one needed some tightening. They appear to be serviceable at present, with no obvious corrosion.
Old C&C Owner
I have tightened up all the keel bolts. Only one needed some tightening. They appear to be serviceable at present, with no obvious corrosion.
Old C&C Owner
Is the separation at the joint where the keel attaches to the hull or is it actually in the metal? Lead is incredibly ductile so a fracture that propagates through the metal seems unlikely. Can you post a picture so we can see what you are trying to describe?
When you say "split" are you suggesting a vertical separation? Maybe the keel was cast in two pours and you have a cold seam in the casting? The worst I can imagine is you remove the keel, send it up to Mars and they use it to make a new mold, then melt it down and reuse the lead to pour it again. Lead is pretty expensive so having the metal already takes a huge part of the cost out of the project.
When you say "split" are you suggesting a vertical separation? Maybe the keel was cast in two pours and you have a cold seam in the casting? The worst I can imagine is you remove the keel, send it up to Mars and they use it to make a new mold, then melt it down and reuse the lead to pour it again. Lead is pretty expensive so having the metal already takes a huge part of the cost out of the project.
- Status