How to sail
- Thread starter makdim
- Start date
The first pic (outside the boat) will require you to first remove the anti-fouling paint then take a grinding wheel on a hand-held drill and grind that crack down along the crack and then feather out the groove. Then lay strips of resin soaked fiberglass cloth into the groove. Each strip a little wider until you reach the edge of your feathered strip. You will want to pre-cut your strips. Ideally you want the last strip to reach the edge of the feathered area while also being the strip of cloth that flushes out the groove you ground in the glass.
In the second pic.... It looks like your boat has an insert that was laid into the hull at the time of construction. I don't know a lot about capital yacht construction but it sure looks that way to me. I don't think you are actually looking at the "true" keel trunk. Here is a pic from a Balboa 26 that I restored. It had extensive keel and keel trunk damage.
You can see how the insert was cut away to make the keel trunk repair. BTW, this is NOT my fiberglass work. I got the boat this way and had to fix the P.O's "fix". I think you will have to do something similar. And then I'm guessing the repair will be like I described for the exterior portion. You can hide your final work by making a nicely varnished wooden sleeve to put over your keel trunk to replace the part of the insert you cut out.
In the second pic.... It looks like your boat has an insert that was laid into the hull at the time of construction. I don't know a lot about capital yacht construction but it sure looks that way to me. I don't think you are actually looking at the "true" keel trunk. Here is a pic from a Balboa 26 that I restored. It had extensive keel and keel trunk damage.
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This is not a repair for the feint of heart.
@rgranger has started you along the right path. That water is coming through the cracks is concerning. The keel area has some of the highest loads on the boat and failure is catastrophic, i.e., the keel comes off and the boat sinks quickly.
Most production boats, like the Neptune have a internal pan liner. This is separate from the hull, it is structural and helps the boat to keep its shape as well as provide the settees and other fixtures in the cabin. It will probably be necessary to cut some of that away to see the inside of the hull and to effect the repair.
To repair a crack like you see in the exterior of the hull, the standard recommendation is to grind back a 12:1 area for the repair. If the hull is ½" thick, the taper should be 6 inches wide. For something as important as the keel structure it may be wise to do this on both the exterior and interior of the crack. Hence the need for cutting out the interior pan.
Epoxy is the correct resin, as it has better adhesive qualities than polyester or vinyl ester resins. Check the West System website, www.westsystem.com for more information on repairing hulls. Good advice there.
Good Luck.
@rgranger has started you along the right path. That water is coming through the cracks is concerning. The keel area has some of the highest loads on the boat and failure is catastrophic, i.e., the keel comes off and the boat sinks quickly.
Most production boats, like the Neptune have a internal pan liner. This is separate from the hull, it is structural and helps the boat to keep its shape as well as provide the settees and other fixtures in the cabin. It will probably be necessary to cut some of that away to see the inside of the hull and to effect the repair.
To repair a crack like you see in the exterior of the hull, the standard recommendation is to grind back a 12:1 area for the repair. If the hull is ½" thick, the taper should be 6 inches wide. For something as important as the keel structure it may be wise to do this on both the exterior and interior of the crack. Hence the need for cutting out the interior pan.
Epoxy is the correct resin, as it has better adhesive qualities than polyester or vinyl ester resins. Check the West System website, www.westsystem.com for more information on repairing hulls. Good advice there.
Good Luck.
@dlochner is correct! This will take several long weekends to fix. But if you are methodical in your approach, there is no reason to think you can't make the repair strong and cosmetic. I like working on boats so my perspective may be a bit warped but don't under rate the value of really knowing your boat. Doing a repair like this will give you confidence in your boat that few people have. You will KNOW whats behind the curtain.
That is a good looking boat and the keel design seems very modern for a boat of that vintage. It is both a wing keel (shoal) that you can retract for trailering. It is definitely worth fixing. I'm guessing you won't need to retract the keel much unless you are putting the boat on the trailer. What I like about the design is the fact that it overcomes one of the primary complaints of the wing keel. The wing keel is great at getting a large righting moment for a relatively short draft. However, when you eventually hit bottom with one, the wing digs in like an anchor and getting them off the inevitable sand or mud bar is very difficult. In your case, you can simply set a kedge and lift the keel out of the muck. BRILLIANT!
@makdim
Is there a winch or some sort of crank that sits on the bulkhead above that keel trunk pipe?
How much does that keel weigh? And what does the keel pipe end look like? Is there a place to attache a winch cable or strap?
It looks like you did a great restoration job on the keel itself. Fixing the trunk won't be as much work time wise but now that I understand how your keel works, it is very important that the fix is strong. When you eventually kiss the bottom, you don't want to snap that keel trunk. In a swing keel boat, the keel can kick up and absorb some of the energy of the impact. In your case, the trunk will have to be able to take the full hit. Anyway, very cool boat. I've never seen one like that before.
Is there a winch or some sort of crank that sits on the bulkhead above that keel trunk pipe?
How much does that keel weigh? And what does the keel pipe end look like? Is there a place to attache a winch cable or strap?
It looks like you did a great restoration job on the keel itself. Fixing the trunk won't be as much work time wise but now that I understand how your keel works, it is very important that the fix is strong. When you eventually kiss the bottom, you don't want to snap that keel trunk. In a swing keel boat, the keel can kick up and absorb some of the energy of the impact. In your case, the trunk will have to be able to take the full hit. Anyway, very cool boat. I've never seen one like that before.
Sorry for so many posts but I also just thought of another advantage of your keel design. Because your retractable keel is more like a dagger board, you won't have a large void in the surface of the hull when your keel is deployed. Keel trunk voids are notorious for producing drag. With a set of good sails, I bet that boat is fast.
Yes, and it looks like the boat may have had a hard grounding. If it has, it will be important to check the integrity of the hull at the aft end of the Daggerboard trunk to make sure the hull has not delaminated. Inside, check to be certain that floor timbers (if there are any) remain tabbed in place and intact as well as the bulkheads. A hard grounding could account for the damage to the interior part of the DB trunk in the second photo.
No telling what the builder used for weight in the keel, looks any metal he could get cheaply. Those look like knockouts from metal electrical boxes. Wonder if the boat was built during a remodel of the factory.
Thanks for all the tips & suggestions. I have a Neptune 24 with the exact same problem. I guess I'll be doing some fiberglass work shortly..