Grounding and Keel Damage

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Randy C.

My 82 C30 broke her mooring chain (Yes you should always dive on mooring tackle every year) in a windstorm and was driven aground on a sandy beach. I was very lucky there are lots of rocky shores in this part of Lake Tahoe. I took several hours of hard work by vessel assist and my brother working the halyards healing the boat to get across about 150 feet of 4 foot deep water. Once free a close inspection of the bilge reveled no apparent damage and no leaks. After sailing the boat back to her slip, a quick dive reveled a new keel crack running from the front of the keel and almost 3 feet long on both sides of the keel. Guess a 300 HP tug can flex a C30 keel! Other than the crack she seemed to sail and motor normally. Following advice from this forum and locals I decided to check the torque on the keel bolts. Six of the eight bolts did rotate ½ to 1 turn before my torque wrench was satisfied with 60 ft lbs. The down side to this process is that I now have a very small leak from one of the keel bolts. My question to the forum is; Is it OK to use the boat as is this summer and manage this leak until the boat is hauled in the winter and repaired? I don’t think there is any structural damage, but I would like some other opinions
 
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Frank Gazzano

Insurance

Why risk it would be my approach. Besides, won't your insurance cover the cost of a haul out and inspection? It seems like that would be much less expensive then having a serious problem develop because you put it off until fall.
 
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Joe Barrett

Epoxy

One of the sailors in my club had similar cracks around his keel and used an underwater epoxy to fill the crack. That alloweed him 3-4 months of coastal sailing before he hauled out. Of course no offshore trips like that! You are on a lake so it may work, you may have a good diver do it for you.
 
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