Why in the world did the keel bolts not extend through the frames? Is there a reason for this or is it just poor boat building?
Years ago, the keel of my O'Day 23 almost separated from the hull. I had rowed out to the mooring, and found a foot of water above the cabin sole. After bailing the boat out, I dove on the keel and found a gap at the forward keel/hull joint. I ripped up one of my socks, dove again, and stuffed the cotton into the gap to temporarily seal the leak. After the boat was hauled, I found that the forward keel bolt was almost through the hull, with the next few almost as bad.
After pulling the keel bolts, I was amazed to find that only 1/8" of fiberglass held the keel bolts to the hull. The sump had one and a half inches of solid material, but the holes for the keel bolts had been counter bored for the bolts. My fix was to fill the counter bores with epoxy/filler mix, rebore the holes, and buy longer stainless steel bolts. I think the repair was better than new, by a factor of 100! To this day, I can't believe the boat was built this way. Maybe because the bolts on hand were too short?
BTW, The forward keel bolt was at the thickest part of the keel, and held a majority of the weight, but had the least amount of hull material supporting it!