Filling

Apr 29, 2012
216
Beneteau 35s5 bristol ri
Ran aground and took a chunk out of my rudder. The bottom of my keel is stoved up. I'm wondering what I should use to patch this up. Ideas please?
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,075
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
Assuming it is a Foss rudder which is foam filled with FPR cover, the repair would be similar to its original build.

Assuming it’s a lead keel, bang it bck to the proper shape.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,323
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
How hard did you hit? What did you hit?

There could be structural damage beyond the keel. The boat needs to be hauled and inspected. Places to look for damage are not intuitive. When the front of the keel hits a hard immovable object, like a rock. The aft end of the keel is forced up into the hull. This can cause the fiberglass to delaminate, a major repair. It can also damage the floors and tabbing for the bulkheads. If you have a floor pan, it can be damaged. Check to see if all the drawers and doors still open and close properly and are aligned. Also check the keels stub for damage.

Call your insurance company. I hope you don't have liability only.

Attached are photos of a boat that ran aground.
This is some of the visible damage to the front of the keel.

DSC_0001.jpeg

Here's part of the damage done to the structure inside the boat. Notice the crack in the floor timber.

DSC_0010.jpeg
 
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Likes: Will Gilmore
Oct 22, 2014
20,993
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
@thetone it helps to have pictures of the damage. Are we to assume you have the boat out of the water and on the hard?

You state the damage to the rudder. Are any of the attached parts of the rudder also damaged? Items like the rudder shaft, the rudder shaft log, the steering quadrant. Depending on how hard you hit what ever was beneath the water it is advised to examine the surrounding or attached boat parts for damage or out of alignment.
 

PaulK

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Dec 1, 2009
1,222
Sabre 402 Southport, CT
As dlochner suggests, this could be REALLY serious. We don’t know how hard you hit, how fast you were going, or exactly what got bumped or at what angle. We’ve had taps that only involved using a hammer to bang the lead back into shape, and other hits that called for rebuilding the trailing edge the keel/hull joint and retabbing/relaminating floors with new layers of mat & roving. Having an experienced yard worker give it a look might be a good idea.
 
Apr 29, 2012
216
Beneteau 35s5 bristol ri
The boat hit bottom while under tow. The visable damage to the keel looks a little less severe than in the photo. The rudder hit bottom while underway. Both impacts were with rocks. I'll send some pics. The boat preformed fine after this. No water intrusion I can see. I'm wondering what I should use to fair the keel and fill in the chunk that came out of the rudder.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,323
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Call your insurance company and they will send a surveyor out to look at the damage. Once the surveyor determines the amount of damage, you can make a decision about repairing it, i.e., repair it yourself or have a competent yard repair it.

I believe Beneteaus have cast iron keels. These are very unforgiving in a grounding. All of the energy was transferred from the point of impact on the keel to the hull. The keel acts as a large lever, it is the leverage that causes all the damage to the hull.
 
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Likes: jssailem

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I would suggest that water intrusion is not something you can count on seeing. With a cast iron keel(?) unless properly dried, sealed and covered, it will continue to rust and cause major problems down the road. If the rudder has a foam core, water has intruded and the foam will deteriorate as time goes on, under the repair.
You basically have 2 choices. If you like and want to keep the boat, have a surveyor do his thing and then follow his advice. This may require a boat yard to do the repairs. If you really don't care about the boat, cover up the damage any way you please and plan to sell it within a few years.
 
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Likes: LloydB

LloydB

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Jan 15, 2006
806
Macgregor 22 Silverton
Your first step should not be to call your insurance company. Unless that is, someone else towed the boat across the rocks and you did not tell them to do that. In that case you could call their insurance company.(maybe) Get the boat out of the water so you can take the pictures and make necessary repairs. Couple bits of information would be helpful also where is the boat at and where do you want it to be as there may be a forum member nearby that can give you a hands on opinion at the instant.
 
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Likes: Will Gilmore
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
Besides the great advice given above. Multiple sudden hard collisions with underwater rocks can also stress your rigging. Do a thorough check of your stays, chainplates, masthead, spreaders... . Assuming you were moving forward, look especially at the backstays, but the forestay and even the shrouds can suffer as the mast snaps back against inertia. Maybe even the engine mounts, really anything that could suffer from the stress of a sudden and violent stop from underneath the boat.

Good luck and keep us posted.

-Will (Dragonfly)