My 1973 Gary Mull Ranger 26 (hull 285) has 10 keel bolts. Two bolts on the starboard side (in the middle of the boat) have badly rusted heads and the fiberglass beneath the washers is split--radiating out about an inch from the washer, with a decent sized hole in the center of the crack. All 8 other bolts are fine. This makes me wonder if before my ownership the boat took a minor impact on the center of the starboard side keel, which then put the most stress on these two bolts--which were then depressed downward with impact. Or, maybe just normal wear of hard sailing.
My question is: 1) How do I dry out the cracks (and associated holes);
and, 2) what material do I fill it with?
I want to use a hardening substance to squeeze into these cracks. They are roughly the diameter of a pencil, and I can stick a pencil into the holes deep enough to go about half the pencil's length. The shallow bilge is dry, but these holes are damp due to the minor amount of rain water that infrequently finds its way into the boat, and the WD-40 I sprayed onto the bolts when wire-brushing off the rust. Lots of rusted metal bits and muck in the cracks--I don't know what material lies underneath the bilge fiberglass.
I dont' know much about epoxy and fiberglassing. This will be my first project tackling this kind of thing (my first sailboat). I'm looking for specific product names to go buy, and a how-to procedure.
A haul-out would be nice. But that won't happen for another year, so until then all projects will have to be done on the water.
Thanks, Jon
My question is: 1) How do I dry out the cracks (and associated holes);
and, 2) what material do I fill it with?
I want to use a hardening substance to squeeze into these cracks. They are roughly the diameter of a pencil, and I can stick a pencil into the holes deep enough to go about half the pencil's length. The shallow bilge is dry, but these holes are damp due to the minor amount of rain water that infrequently finds its way into the boat, and the WD-40 I sprayed onto the bolts when wire-brushing off the rust. Lots of rusted metal bits and muck in the cracks--I don't know what material lies underneath the bilge fiberglass.
I dont' know much about epoxy and fiberglassing. This will be my first project tackling this kind of thing (my first sailboat). I'm looking for specific product names to go buy, and a how-to procedure.
A haul-out would be nice. But that won't happen for another year, so until then all projects will have to be done on the water.
Thanks, Jon