Damage to Keel

[igillerman]

When I was hauled out today, the yard messed up and to make a long story short, the backside of my keel now has a dent in it. It wasn’t seated properly on the trailer and when they tried to drive the trailer forward, a steel crossbar pushed on the lead. So at least it was an applied load, not a shock load. The boat is a 1984 C&C 29-2 with a lead fin keel. In the pic of the keel, you can see the clear joint. Unfortunately I bought it in the water, so I don’t know if this was there or not, but I feel pretty good about assuming it was.

Should I be worried about some larger damage to the structure? Should I ask the yard to repair the damage with some epoxy to get the shape back, etc. Any advice on how to handle this situation is appreciated!

 

[Tally Ho]

It doesn’t look like much of an issue from the photos. But I would inspect the keel bolts and bilge to look for any new cracks. The joint on the exterior doesn’t look unusual for a 35+YO bolt on keel.

If you aren’t comfortable, hire a marine inspector / surveyor to take a look.

If it were me, I think I would be sailing the boat.


Greg

 

[justsomeguy]

Any advice on how to handle this situation is appreciated!

Take a 3 pound sledge and bang it back into shape. Lead's quite easy to form.

 

[ggrizzard]

I'm not sure the keel is lead. Many Mfg's changed to steel around the early 80's.

 

[FastOlson]

The keel is lead. and the suggestion to reshape the ding should work fine. Finish with some epoxy filler and re-coat with bottom point.
Check the bolts if you wish, but they should not have changed at all.
Some surveyors will recommend dropping and re-bedding the keel, strictly due to age. But that's the answer to a different question...

 

[jssailem]

with Fast Olsen
Like a car door ding.
You can talk to the marina, but it may be an empty solution.
Repair is always better than letting it fester.

 

[DArcy]

I had a similar ding in the keel on my C&C27. I did check the keel bolt torque fairly regularly which is certainly recommended after any keel damage. I doubt there would be any hull damage from that kind of ding on a C&C but it is worth inspecting for cracks in the hull in front and behind the keel.

Banging it back into shape is a lot easier said than done. I banged what I could back into shape then shaved off the rest with a rasp. PPE is a good idea here, lead is not human friendly.

When repairing lead, before you are ready to fill and/or paint you should seal it with epoxy. Use a wire brush (I used a wire wheel in a drill) to polish the lead then very quickly brush on a thin coat of epoxy. Lead oxidizes incredibly fast so you have to have the epoxy ready to go. Once it is coated, you have all the time you need to fair it (I used epoxy thickened with West Systems 403 filler) and then paint it.

 

[igillerman]

Thanks all. To follow up based off this and some conversions with other folks, I'm basically going to check keel bolt torque and inspect that area for any small cracks.

My research here has opened up a can of worms per FastOlsen's comment. That weeping keel has me a little nervous - if it's beyond superficial it could lead to corrosion and elongation of the bolts (hence checking the torque). I was instructed to see if I can poke a small wire (or whatever) in there to see if there's any gaps. if so, squirt some alcohol with a needle/syringe in to displace the water. If the water that comes out is nice and brown, I know my answer. I wouldn't be shocked if the keel has never been rebedded, and the PO just gooped over that joint before painting over it. I need to decide if I want to really properly seal that joint, or just stick it out and maybe re-bed the keel in the next couple of years... I have a feeling it will cost more than I want it to.

 

[RoyS]

Fill the bilge with water and watch outside to see if it weeps out.

 

[High Current]

The fact that the keel seam in your picture is still wet while the hull around it is dry strongly suggests it was already that way before haul out. It also runs the full length of the keel which would be tough to do in a single incident. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to know the condition of your keel bolts without dropping the keel. Rust stains and/or water leaking down from the bilge are decidedly bad signs but there's no easy way to rule out hidden corrosion if everything looks OK.

I like the alcohol idea. If everything is nice and dry, proper bolt torque and sealing of the seam (e.g. with G-flex) should at least stabilize it in its current condition. You'll also get a clear indicator (cracks in the epoxy) if things start to move around / allow water ingress again. I get the impression that keel bolt corrosion tends to warn you with leaks and/or continuous 'loosening' of torque long before the keel actually falls off.

Dropping and re-bedding the keel is the "proper" solution, but it I've read it can be its own can of worms because it can't be reattached if one of the bolts is corroded, and sending it out to be re-cast is very expensive. Sistering might be a more economical option in that case but is still a project. You can imagine there are a range of opinions about whether it should remain bedded in the first place if a bolt is starting to corrode, but if the boat is asymptomatic then the lack of a non-invasive screening test makes it a gamble either way.