KEEL BOLTS

[Thomas Wanderer]

I always have some water in the well of my hunter 25. Since it is sea water and the keel bolts are obviously constantly wet I am concerned that the bolts are corroded and that my keel will just fall off some day in the middle of the ocean. If this is a realistic concern what is the best way (lowest cost) of resolving this issue.

 

[Mickey Goodman]

Hi Tom:Us New Englanders have it over those who are able to keep their boats in the water all the time. We are forced to haul the boat out of the water in the winter.I had the same problem with a Catalina 25 and now with my Hunter 37. Water in the the bilge. What I do is once the boat is hauled, I complete empty the bilge with a wet vac and paint the keel bolts with a good paint. I never had a problem with the keel.Good Luck.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Can you inspect?

Hi Tom, I have been watching this thread thinking you would see more answers. Since my H37C has a keel-stepped mast there is always water in the bilge. When I dry and clean the bilge, though, the keel bolts are easily inspected. And after twenty years they look like new. I have even removed some of the nuts to see if they were corroded or seized. They were not. Now this is a fresh water boat. But I have talked with friends that have salt water boats and they tell me the same thing. The question then, did the H25 use the same quality keel bolts?

 

[Bryan C.]

Stainless

No rust at all on the bolts of my '88 35. Try to keep the bilge dry, but water accumulates when it rains. Nary a spot of rust. Maybe they are stainless (don't look like it) but must be pretty high quality steel. My mechanic told me to coat them with grease, which I did, and which eventually made the bilge a mess. Another thing I was thinking of trying was some battery terminal spray they sell at walmart. Dries to a red plastic type coating.

 

[Porter Claytor]

H33 Keel bolts

One of the few things on the boat that looks brand new is the keel bolts. Hope to change that soon. My bilge is always full of salt water at least enough to cover the bolts and nuts and on a 1980 model. I hear all types of cover (painting, plastic and such) be careful with this as it could mask a real problem. Keep clorox or any bleach off all stainless parts by the way, it cause embrittlement in the stainless.Porter

 

[jim logan]

Keel Bolts - what you don't see is important

Stainless steel corrodes in low oxygen environments, such as if your seal between the keel and keel stub below the water line is leaking, allowing the keel bolts to be in stagnant sea water - the top of the bolts could look fine, but they could be badly corroded between the keel and keel stub. There's probably no easy way to check for this - I would recommend you read the section on this in Don Casey's "This Old Boat" book - very informative. By the way, on my 1980 33, I used to have water in the bilge until I reseated my cutlass bearing support and fixed the leaks around the rudder stuffing box, now, only water is from refrigerator drain and air conditioner.