Lead Keel Cracking

[Project_Mayhem]

We discovered this while sanding down the back of the keel. Grind, solder, fill?

 

[dLj]

Tough to weld or solder. Welding is best done using hydrogen and you can screw things up real fast. Soldering requires special joint preparation - both require a fair bit of practice working with lead. Grinding has its concerns as I'm sure you are aware.

I'm on my phone so the images are hard to see well. But from what I can see, I'd likely fill with G-flex 655.

dj

 

[Davidasailor26]

I wouldn’t worry about it structurally. My guess is there was some impurity in the pour that let water in and freeze. I’d probably just fill it with some epoxy to try to prevent more freeze/thaw cycles from opening it up more.

 

[kloudie1]

Same thoughts here. Not structural so clean it up and fill with a good sticky epoxy .. G-flex is really good stuff.

 

[jssailem]

I like the idea of using an epoxy filler like “Total Fair” It has the properties of epoxy, yet it is easy to sand smooth. Then you can paint it. Opening up the crack to get epoxy into the space is a “it depends” type of task. You might find more problems.

You can also use a thick (mayonnaise consistency) epoxy to squirt into the opening with a syringe.

 

[Davidasailor26]

You can also use a thick (mayonnaise consistency) epoxy to squirt into the opening with a syringe.

I like this idea. Depending on the volume maybe don’t try it on a very hot day, for fear of overheating the curing epoxy.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Thanks everyone for the overwhelming response. Everyone agrees on this it appears!

We have West 404 and 406 on hand and a good amount of fairing on the rest of the keel to do. Is there any advantage of using fairing compound over additives/fillers?

I like this idea. Depending on the volume maybe don’t try it on a very hot day, for fear of overheating the curing epoxy.

It's a small area. We're swinging between 65 and 85 ATM. The keel should act like a giant heat sink.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Is it the keel cracking or what has been applied on it giving way? If it's the keel send the photos to Catalina

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Is it the keel cracking or what has been applied on it giving way? If it's the keel send the photos to Catalina

The crack is in the lead on the aft edge of the wing. There's a subtle dent in that area indicating that the boat backed into or hit something under water. The salmon colored areas are fairing compound filling in casting defects from the factory. We found some cracking in the fiberglass stub of the keel that turned out to only be in the fairing compound and not the glass. There are no cracks on the fore or aft end of the keel or hull indicating a hard grounding

 

[Project_Mayhem]

I bought some TotalFair and have some Interprotect 2000. Which should be applied first?

 

[kappykaplan]

TotalFair first. Use the Interprotect to seal.