Keel hanger sealant & Non Mexican Keel

[thetailwind]

Just sharing my weekend work with you all and I have one question. When I removed the keel, it appears as if there was silicone caulking around the perimeter of the bracket as if the PO or factory sealed the bottom. Is this factory or standard practice? If not, should I seal at all, butyl tape around the bolts or nothing at all?

Also, it appears as If I am super lucky and have a non Mexican keel. I did not see any stamp on the keel and it looks in much better casting shape than most others I have seen. Only on pit about 1/4 inch deep and the size of a silver dollar. The keel is from a 1987. The pictures below show removal of the old rust, post sand blasting and rust treatment. Epoxy went on last night but I have no pictures of that.

 

[CaptDon01]

The silicone was applied by someone who was not familiar with boats, or the C-22. Silicone has no place anywhere on a boat, I can assure you, that wasn't applied by the factory. Also, there is no need to do any sealing on the keel hangers, (as long as a previous owner didn't try to "improve" the factory design. The keel hanger bolts screw into stainless steel weldments molded into the hull. Unlike lesser swing keel boats, you can remove the keel and the hangers and float the boat in the water and it won't leak a drop. There is no penetration through the hull from the factory on your keel hanger assembly. If that photo shows your keel sand blasted down to bare cast iron, that's one of the nicest castings I've seen. If your keel is cast iron, it was cast in Mexico. It wasn't until the foundry in Mexico went out of business in the early 90's that the factory redesigned the swing keel to the current stainless steel. lead, and fiberglass swing keel design.

Keep us informed with photos on the refurbishment of the swing keel!

Don

 

[zeehag]

why is mexican keel a bad thing?? they were constructed in aalco pacific, a usa company . yes they used mexiworkers, from whom i drew blood samples for lead levels. this is after usa quit smelting lead. something about lead being a health hazard.
you will drive a car built in mexico but not use a keel smelted and poured in mexico, merely 5 or so miles from usa border??

mexicans actually are accountable for work they do and proud of craftsmanship, unlike most usa production and manufacturing workers, and the managers of the plant were non-mexicans. i drew blood from each and every employee in that aalco pacific smelting plant for 2 years.
aint like chinese welding practices and chinese galvo quality

 

[allen-deckard]

k you went on quite the rant there where I thought you were going on about not being racist or something then at the end you throw in a bit about the Chinese not producing at your level of expected quality.

Not sure why you had an issue with his original statement. If he doesn't believe the keels made in Mexico were made as good then so be it. I buy American products made in America whenever possible myself. Then again I worked in an American foundry for years, and take offense at your statement about American manufacturing workers not taking pride in there products.

Like to add one last thing in 1987 keels on a catalina 22 were made of cast iron Not lead so the whole lead level rant I'm not sure how it even applies.

 

[thetailwind]

From what I have read and seen on many refurbishment threads is that earlier Mexican stamped keels had more casting flaws in them as far as massive pits of metal missing. In addition the curvature of the keel was flatter on one side. The reason I am so excited about not having a mexican stamped keel is that those conditions don't seem to be present on this keel. Also, I understand that during peak production times, they needed more keels than the Mexican plant could make so a small batch were actually cast in the USA and had a better casting process.

 

[Phil Herring]

This thread is not-so-slowly making its way to the War Room, so I recommend we end the discussion of non-USA production and stick to the keel issues. Thanks.

 

[allen-deckard]

BTW you look like your done but for anyone else I had really good luck when I did mine taking it to a local body shop and having them sand blast it.

Also the large pits of metal missing it typically porosity in a nut shell air bubbles in the metal when casting. ALL cast material has porosity BUT the level of porosity is controlled in the process with additives. Anyway that's a bunch of crap you don't care about the point being is that the issues we have with cast keels like we have is the fact with cast material and rust it's typically inside the metal once it's rusting not on the surface and is one of the worst materials they could have choose to use. This is coming from someone again that worked in a foundry using sand casting it is what it is best that can be hoped for is a minimal amount of porosity but when they were making keels I can "imagine" that it wasn't really a huge concern since it's basically a cheep boat that needed a large weight hanging from the bottom to stay upright. "a lot of this is opinion but some is fact you figure it out"

 

[thetailwind]

Phil, can I have some context, I do not understand what you mean?

 

[Phil Herring]

Your thread is fine, but this is not the place to discuss the qualities or shortcomings of the workforce in Mexico or China. Just trying to keep the thread focused on keels and away from politics.

 

[CloudDiver]

When I put my keel hangers back on I did not use any sealant like 3M 4200 or butyl tape (and def NOT silicone)... There WAS some sealant used by the P.O. but it was not needed and just made a mess of things when I took the keel off. I only used Loctite Blue Thread Locker on the bolts which does dry waterproof.

 

[zeehag]

yes that usa plant was on same street shelby's "store" was on, near the circle dirt track--ascott-- in gardena.

i am not inpressed that you feel i was ranting. i believe that interpretation of my words was representative of the thoughts of your own mind. but that is what happens when ye feel a need to INTERPRET that which is stayed into the state of mind of the reader. is an affliction i have observed in nearly one third of those i have encountered both online and in person.
is NOT my flaw but that of alleged reader.

 

[thetailwind]

Thanks CloudDiver. That is exactly what I plan on doing.