Keel Bolts

[seadaddler]

I have a 2007 Hunter 36 and so this is my second year sailing it and wondering
how often do you check your keel bolts.
My boat is on the hard right now and think this is the perfect time to check them,so how do you check them do you just put a wrench on them and give it all of your strength in to it or just try to see if they turn with some normal pressure turn the wrench making sure they are snug.
I don't want to over do it,if it's not broke don't fix it.
Nick

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Nick
Given the newness of the boat and presuming there is no indication of leaks or keel cracks, it's a non-issue. If there is some indication of a problem, call Hunter and get the torque specs for the bolts before you do anything else.

 

[Bill Roosa]

If it ain't broken...

don't fix it! You could break the seal by turning the bolts to tighten them. It is customary to check the seam line (keel to boat) when on the hard to see if there has been any separation and fixing it if needed.

I agree with Don, not a real high maintenance item.

 

[seadaddler]

It Ain't Brook

I did check it out yesterday while getting it ready to bottom paint,everything
did look real good just like new.
OK next time at haul out I will check it out again and if it ain't brook do nothing,
thanks guys.
Nick

 

[Bill Roosa]

read the lable

You should read the lable on the bottom paint can. Many require 24-48 windows before you put the boat in the water in spring. That means painting it now (with one of those types) is just a waste of time and $$$

 

[chuckwayne]

checking keelbolts

I did check it out yesterday while getting it ready to bottom paint,everything
did look real good just like new.
OK next time at haul out I will check it out again and if it ain't brook do nothing,
thanks guys.
Nick

Nick,
just check the hull/keel joint when she's on the hard-if you see any cracking on the fairing compound, or evidence of leaking around the keelbolts, or if you hit something (don't ask) you need to do more. the fairing compound is fairly brittle, and it's common to see some cracking on the leading and trailing edges. you can refair them, or use 5200 to fill-that's what's holding the keel on anyway.
We met a rock several years ago and i thought I needed to check the keelbolts, so I got the correct 3/4" drive sockets, extensions, and empiricaly determined that I could put a max torque of 150 ft-lbs on the nuts using a std torque wrench-depends on strength. body weight, bracing-I then used a straight breaker bar and a pipe to double the lever arm to get to 300ft-lbs

For your 356/36-
3/4' bolts--132 ft-lbs
1"---------325 ft-lbs

 

[seadaddler]

Bill & Chuck

I did check the keel while she is on the hard now and every thing looks good just like new and just asking if when ever on the hard is good to do but we are not doing any thing everything looks good,we did hit a soft bottom in NC on the way down to Florida from NY trip this past Oct but only some botom paint rubbed off on the front bottom of the keel, it was really like a touching bottom
than grounding.
She will be going back in the end of this month so I will check the paint can directions.
Nick

 

[chuckwayne]

I'm jealous! we won't launch until mid May-and we just had a wicked ice storm!

 

[Alan]

had my keel installed...

...in '96. The yard manager told me that after the 5200 sets up the keel bolts are redundant. You could remove them with no worries that the 5200 is holding the keel in place. To this day I cannot find the seam where the keel meets the keel stub and have never touched the keel bolts.