Keel Fillet Repair ??

[Captain Rich]

Our O'Day 37 Center Cockpit Sloop has always leaked water into the bilge from a 4" crack in the fillet at the aft of the keel (see pics). :cry:

We recently repaired the cause of the crack, a weak bulkhead above the fillet which let the keel move up/down 1-1/2"!!

I've ground out the poor repair jobs on the outside of the keel fillet and now need to repair it properly.

Any ideas what's the best way to repair/replace the fillet? Should I lay up multiple layers of glass/epoxy to build it up OR vacuum bag mold a new fillet that is then bonded to the hull/keel.

Thanks!

 

[RAD]

Capt Rich,
I have the little sister 32 and had the exact same issue (a smile around the keel) and my thinking of how it got there was a hard grounding and mine showed up after a short haul for a paint job so I ground out mine like you did and used plain old West Systems epoxy with some cloth and faired it out about a foot and it held up well for six years and the crack reappeared through the cloth and epoxy so this spring I ground it down a little and used some heavy cloth with West Systems G Flex epoxy because I read that stuff has some flexibility and I'll look after the seasons over and see how it held up
OBTW I sail in a shallow bay so bumping a hard sandy bottom could have created the crack and I also have a centerboard

 

[Captain Rich]

Did you just lay the heavy glass over the smile, creating a flat patch, or did you create a tapered trailing edge to streamline the fillet a bit?

 

[AXEL]

I've use Marine Tex with good results on my Catalina "smile". The stuff is very easy to use, you can build up a good thickness with one shot and it sands very easy.