keel damage

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Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
If you keep the boat on a mooring I would say your top chain got wrapped around your boat in a big blow and it chafed on the keel.

You could fill it with thickened epoxy.
 

Ross

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Jun 15, 2004
14,693
Islander/Wayfairer 30 sail number 25 Perryville,Md.
I think that I would also want some glass cloth on the patch.
That is the trailing edge?
 

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
Glass cloth certainly would not hurt but if it happens again the cloth will last about 5 minutes longer than thickened epoxy without.

You could also refill with lead(asumming that is the material) and then glass and fair. Again, it will not prevent reoccurance given enough time. Luckily it is an easy fix.

Looking at the photos again, please make sure none of this "bite" goes into the keel stub. That would certainly complicate any attempt at repair.
 
May 21, 2006
321
catalina 25, 30 montauk / manhattan
a friend used one night and after dragging had to cut my brand new anchor. upon further discussion found out the rode had wrapped around the keel, hence the "bite". guess i'll have help with the repair.

also noticed a crack at the top of the keel. infamous "catalina smile" or could be connected?
 

Attachments

Nov 6, 2006
10,220
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Looks like the keel/stub seam at the bottom edge of the bite ??.. Looks like the chain or pennant got through the glass skin and into whatever core stuff is in the stub there.. A prudent repair would be to get a good fiberglass guy to look at it and follow that direction. Looks like you will have to fill it with a heavy filler (West System g-flex and high density filler or equivalent) then fair it smooth.. then band it with glass strips/epoxy, fairing into the glass forward and above the damage. Good idea to have a lot of compressive strength there because in the event of a grounding, the trailing edge of the keel will try to rotate into that space.
 

Kermit

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Jul 31, 2010
5,722
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
Almost certainly Jaws...

Jaws!!!
I was going to say shark bite but Jaws is definitely more likely. He had a heckuva grip with those stainless steel teeth! ;-)
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
If you keep the boat on a mooring I would say your top chain got wrapped around your boat in a big blow and it chafed on the keel.

You could fill it with thickened epoxy.
Funny that there does not seem to be any other scrapes on the keel face?
 
Jan 22, 2008
280
Hunter 25_73-83 NORTH POINT MARINA/WINTHROP HA IL
This is not really a structural repair, but rather a cosmetic one. The repair can be made by building layers of mat and roving with a good dose of West System High Density thickened epoxy betwen the wetted out layers or if you want less glass work, you can cut a piece of core material of your choice and epoxy it to the "shark bite. After curing, build up layers of mat and roving around the core and finish with Low Density fairing compound,sand, seal with epoxy barrier, antifoulant primer and finally bottom paint. However, if you merely sealed the damage, you could sail with the anachronistic void forever with a small sacrifice in aerodynamics but considerable offense to the sanctity of your soul. Good luck, Ron
 
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