Totally inspect the keel.
I would assume the keel-strike guesses are right, but I would not re-torque the keel bolts before rebedding the keel. Use bottle jacks to raise the boat an inch or so and back off on the keel bolts-- leaving the nuts and washers still on the top of the threads-- to crack the bedding loose. If it's dry, if it cracks the glass, if it parts, there's your problem. (If not hurry up and put the boat down again!!!) Clean out with putty knives and piano wire (NOT fingers) and completely fill the void with 5200, gently lowering the boat back down. It should ooze a good fat inch all round. Clean it off tomorrow. Re-torque the keel bolts up solid in about three days. As for the actual fibreglass damage, fix this first (to keep the hull stiff for the rebedding job). Grind the affected area out THOROUGHLY (yes that is in caps for a reason) and lay up some new 'glass. Take it down to dry (white) cloth inside if you have to. If the old patch has set up okay but is just not adhering well, lay up new stuff around it, inside and out, and fair in the outside as needed. I would use about three layers of standard mat. I can't believe you'll have to return to a 10x10-inch hole to make this right. If you do, lay up woven roving at least twice (I'm guessing-- match the thickness of the rest). Any solid lay-up by the PO can be utilised in your repair. Remember to use plenty of wax in the resin to make the grinding job easier or you'll hate yourself. I doubt you will EVER get satisfaction out of a PO for this. He is likely to say he repaired it and it's now a maintenance problem-- which any old repair is-- and say he knew no better way to do it. The best 'satisfaction' I would expect to get is by driving past his house with a spud gun. JC 2
