Keel Bolts 432 Moorings

[sushiloco]

I'm trying to find out about keel bolts for a 1988 432 Moorings boat.
I bought this boat after looking at my survey. It was noted that the keel bolts had rust on them. After looking on the internet it seemed like this was a normal thing and not something to worry about. So I bought the boat.

Now that I own the boat, I have looked at the bolts and it's not good.
2 of the bolts have lost the top of the bolt. It's a perfect bolt top after pushing hard with my finger. It just fell off. I was planing to just twisting them off and puting a new bolt in. That's what I thought would happen.

Now I'm not sure what to do?

Has anyone drilled and extracted the bolt in the water? Is this a bad idea?
Should I just pull the boat out and do it on the hard?
I have tried to contact Beneteau but, no one has responded.
I want to buy new bolt's but not getting anywhere with with the Beneteau web site.
Don't feel like I can order and get the right part.
If you have any history of what to do? Or who I can contact?
You would be my best friend!
Thanks
Tom

 

[ph034495]

keel bolts 42s7

Hi tom
I have a '95 42S7 and experianced very similiar problem.. What i did (in the water) is after removing all the corrosion there was nothing left for a wrench or socket so i welded new large nuts. After that i was able to remove and get them sized. replaced one by one..
Good luck
don

 

[sushiloco]

Thanks Don!!!!
Good to know. Did you do it in the water?
I'm not sure I have enough left of the bolt to weld to?
Did you try to extract the bolt with an extractor?
Thanks again!!
Tom

 

[ph034495]

All of this was accomplished in the water...
Enclosed are a few more pics that will show what i had left of the bolt for weld attachment.
Note that i welded inside the nut (and i am a crummy welder) so if you have less material than the inside of the nut then your keel probably fell off already. <joke>
Did not try an extractor, might work.
maybe because of the heat but they came out with lever bar roughly three foot long much easier than i expected.
They all had a white sealant existing in the thread i did not add any more.
The last plate had lightning ground attached to it and coincidentally had no corrosion...
I did have a galvanic corrosion problem that led to engine head problems (thats another storie) and last haul out (oct 2012) had to replace all my thru hulls. noted that they all were very thin wall after one broke off in my hand. Have read that some beneteaus used brass instead of bronze.. something to look at next time you get a chance (as if you did not have enough)..
don