Hello all, picked up a 1978 J 24, had to do a little work on it seems to be in good shape. HOWEVER, the keel has some small hair line cracks toward the top and center and looks like rust colored water seeping out. What do I do? Thanks
J 24 keel mystery
- Thread starter wetsu82
- Start date
J-24 keels.
You MUST make sure the keel bolts stay tight. If they loosen they create slop in the keel/hull interface. That's bad.
http://www.j24class.org/news/keel-bolt-maintenance-bulletin/
You MUST make sure the keel bolts stay tight. If they loosen they create slop in the keel/hull interface. That's bad.
http://www.j24class.org/news/keel-bolt-maintenance-bulletin/
J24 keel mystery
Also do a search for "J24 vermiculite keel issues" This is a very well known problem with the early J24's and there has been a lot written about how to deal with it. Moisture in the vermiculite can be causing your keel bolts to compress the area where the keel bolts are and thus causing them to loosen and leak. This can potentially cause a serious crevice corrosion problem if your keel bolts have be subjected to water for a long period of time. Drop the keel to verify their condition. It's a pretty big project.
Also do a search for "J24 vermiculite keel issues" This is a very well known problem with the early J24's and there has been a lot written about how to deal with it. Moisture in the vermiculite can be causing your keel bolts to compress the area where the keel bolts are and thus causing them to loosen and leak. This can potentially cause a serious crevice corrosion problem if your keel bolts have be subjected to water for a long period of time. Drop the keel to verify their condition. It's a pretty big project.
My 1979 boat, early on used to weep from hairline cracks (4 or so inches from the hull) where the hull molding stops and the keel is bolted on.. What I did was ground down the glass that covers the hull/keel joint and ground our the gap. Inspected for potential problems with the bolts and then epoxied the joint back together and faired it. This was part of an overall keel fairing to the minimums allowed using class templates.
We did ours back in the early 80's and we were getting rust stains then, so I don't think I'd panic just yet.
You might contact randy Borges at Waterline Systems too and pick his brain. There is also a lot of information on prepping old boats at the J24 Class Association website and there is a forum there too. Lot's of knowledge.
http://waterlinesystems.com/boats/j24/
http://www.j24usa.com/
And, we did pull the vermiculite out of tha cabin sole. There is a kit to redo the base and cabin sole.
Great Boat! I raced mine for 30 years before selling it and buying the Beneteau.
Enjoy.
JRacer
OutraJe - USA 1427
We did ours back in the early 80's and we were getting rust stains then, so I don't think I'd panic just yet.
You might contact randy Borges at Waterline Systems too and pick his brain. There is also a lot of information on prepping old boats at the J24 Class Association website and there is a forum there too. Lot's of knowledge.
http://waterlinesystems.com/boats/j24/
http://www.j24usa.com/
And, we did pull the vermiculite out of tha cabin sole. There is a kit to redo the base and cabin sole.
Great Boat! I raced mine for 30 years before selling it and buying the Beneteau.
Enjoy.
JRacer
OutraJe - USA 1427
Bunch of good information, not panicking..still a nice boat paid 2k for had to do some work to it and it glides through the water nicely and is quick. I don't have a lot of money so I do the work myself. The boat stays on a trailer so I have easy access to the keel.