My Hunter 25 has a fin keel that is seperated from the hull. I just bought the boat and know little about the issues sorrunding the seperation. Anyhow, I plan to remove some of the sorrounding "material" on either side of the crack and fill in with epoxy. After several coats of epoxy I will sand to make it look good and apply paint. Am I on the right track? FWIW I plan to sell the boat in spring of 06'. Thanks for the advice!
Keel Seperation - plan for repair.....
- Thread starter deeman7777
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one more pic....
one more pic - possibly a previous repair. Not planning to do much with this one...
one more pic - possibly a previous repair. Not planning to do much with this one...
last pic
this is the aft side of the keel on the opposite side of crack shown in the very first post. Thanks!!
this is the aft side of the keel on the opposite side of crack shown in the very first post. Thanks!!
deeman,
I think some of the damage you see is previous epoxy work. If it were my boat boat I would clean out the hull/keel joint, dry it out loosen the bolts so the keel drops about 1/8 to 1/4". Fill the keel/hull joint with 5200. Allow to cure and then torque the bolts. This will give a solid sailing keel and a forgiving joint for those occasional light groundings. The damage at the back of your keel is likely to be from a grounding. r.w.landau
I think some of the damage you see is previous epoxy work. If it were my boat boat I would clean out the hull/keel joint, dry it out loosen the bolts so the keel drops about 1/8 to 1/4". Fill the keel/hull joint with 5200. Allow to cure and then torque the bolts. This will give a solid sailing keel and a forgiving joint for those occasional light groundings. The damage at the back of your keel is likely to be from a grounding. r.w.landau
Maybe not Keel Separation
What you have does not look too unusual, You could scrape everything down to clean gel coat, clean out the soft joint between keel sump and the keel itself and re-seal the joint with 5200; then fair in the remaining length of keel surface; add a couple barrier coats of Interlux 2000; smooth it all out and bottom paint it an go sailing. Check out the 'smile on most Hunters and Catalinas and you'll see your's is pretty typical and just needs some TLC.
What you have does not look too unusual, You could scrape everything down to clean gel coat, clean out the soft joint between keel sump and the keel itself and re-seal the joint with 5200; then fair in the remaining length of keel surface; add a couple barrier coats of Interlux 2000; smooth it all out and bottom paint it an go sailing. Check out the 'smile on most Hunters and Catalinas and you'll see your's is pretty typical and just needs some TLC.
Sure does look like it.
Typical,that is. I would skip the epoxy. Clean and fair it, then fill and smooth with 5200. It's so much easier and lasts,,well, forever. And just think of the warm, gushy feeling you'll have, doing this work for the next owner.
Typical,that is. I would skip the epoxy. Clean and fair it, then fill and smooth with 5200. It's so much easier and lasts,,well, forever. And just think of the warm, gushy feeling you'll have, doing this work for the next owner.
Keel Separation
I had the same problem on my 1976 Hunter 25 however with a larger separation on the first quarter of the keel. I squeezed 5200 in the space tightened up the bolts as tight as I could (1 or 2 were stripped), added two additional nuts on the bolts finished with marinetex/fiberglass and antifouling. I wasn't happy with that as I tend to err on the side of over kill so just before i launched, I fiberglassed with cloth this time. Have had no problems and see no sign of leakage through the keel bolts.
I had the same problem on my 1976 Hunter 25 however with a larger separation on the first quarter of the keel. I squeezed 5200 in the space tightened up the bolts as tight as I could (1 or 2 were stripped), added two additional nuts on the bolts finished with marinetex/fiberglass and antifouling. I wasn't happy with that as I tend to err on the side of over kill so just before i launched, I fiberglassed with cloth this time. Have had no problems and see no sign of leakage through the keel bolts.
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