Leaking keel joint

[gordhodgson]

My Hunter 450 has a joint which I have had no success in sealing. I have vee,d the joint and actually drilled holes through the joint, which seems to have a void after about
1 1/2"-2" , this is where the moisture is I have tried blowing air into the holes and this seems to rid the water, then applying 5200 along the joint but then after a season the joint will show signs of leaking again. Suggestions on how to extract this water and solve this problem, without dropping the keel would be appreciated, note that I have no water in the bilge and have as a precaution removed the keel nuts and sealed them with 5200 then retorqued them. They were not loose prior to this so I'm not concerned, as well the bolts showed no sign of corrosion. I had a surveyor recently check it out and he saw no issues other than it is a typical Hunter smile. I'm trying to sell the vessel and would like to eliminate this, as it always is asked about. Thanks for any input.

 

[Slow lane]

I'm not familiar with your boat, but if you have stainless keel bolts I would lower the keel to check for corrosion of bolts at keel hull joint . You don't need to remove it to get a good look just lower a inch or two. If I understand you . I would want to find out why you have a void in the hull above the keel suggest you talk to the manufacture about that.
It's a small problem that can get big in a hurry..That's my 2cents on the subject

 

[Terry Cox]

There should be no weeping through the keel stub joint. Something caused the joint seal to become compromised. The only sure way to fix it is to drop the keel, clean the stub joint and re-bed with 3M5200. Ours was weeping and I had the yard do this procedure in 2004. It has remained sealed ever since after thousands of cruising miles. The yard can tell you whether they have to drop the mast to do the repair.

Some will tell you that you can fix it by applying sealant on the outside of the joint. Perhaps. But something broke the seal and that needs to be looked at from the inside. Covering it with fresh sealant merely covers up the broken stub joint seal.

Not sure about the H460, but our 1991 P42 keel SS stud bolts are molded into the lead keel. Short of melting down the keel, no way to remove them, according to the yard.

 

[Slow lane]

If your keel bolts are compromised sister bolts can be installed. A lot of work but not that complicated. Basically you drill new holes threw the hull down into the keel then cross drill the keel for nuts on the bottom of the new threaded rod. Normally the new bolts are 2or3inches ahead or behind the damaged bolts. Ask around you will probably find someone that's had it done or have done it them self. I would think any good yard would know this is a option even if they can't do the work. I will be doing this on the 28r I have in my yard this winter . It's will be the second boat I done this to.

 

[Terry Cox]

By his description, the keel studs seem to be okay. It is the keel stub joint that appears to have been compromised. Once that seal breaks open, a yard can repair it, but to do so they need to lift the boat off of the keel, clean the joint and re-bed the keel to the stub.

 

[Slow lane]

I would be interested in knowing what the void is in the keel stub. That would worry me if it was my boat. As Terry said you need to lift the boat off the keel. This is not a big deal to have done in a good yard. If no problems are found it can be done in very little time.

 

[hughvr]

I had a similar problem with my Hunter Passage 420. It turned out that a previous owner had run it hard aground and crushed the back portion of the keel sump. He then filled it with bondo and painted over it. I had to have the keel dropped to get to the real damage. Hunter attached my keel in 1999 with fiberglass resin so the keel had to be ripped off. The keel sump surface was completely refinished, then I had it replaced with 5200 so I can easily cut through with heated piano wire to check in the future. The source of the water was the large hollow section in the center of the keel. It had been filled with quick-drying foam that broke down over the last 15 years. We scooped all of that mess out and refilled it. The keel is better than new now. By the way, the mast had to come off so the boat wouldn't tip over. Pricetag: $13,000. Yours will be a bit less if there was no damage to the sump, and a lot less if your keel was glued on with 5200 instead of resin. Good luck.

 

[Capt jgw]

Stainless steel and salt water together in an oxygen starved area like the hull/keel interface is a very bad thing. The bolts can corrode to nothing in an alarmingly short period of time. And they can still look fine from in the bilge. You will need to drop the keel to see what's going on.
That's not a terrible job. Just brace the keel so it doesn't tip over, remove the nuts, and have the travel lift come back and pick her up.
If the bolts look ok, clean up the surfaces, lay in lots of 5200, and put her back together.
As with bedding deck hardware, trying to seal it from the outside rarely works. You have to get the pieces apart and get sealant in between.
If any of the bolts are bad, they will have to be replaced or sistered. Assuming the keel is lead, usually the bolts are "J" bolts cast into the keel and can't be removed. Some are lag or hanger bolts screwed into a harder alloy of lead but that's pretty rare. That leaves sistering where you drill a hole down into the keel, and another hole sideways to intersect the first. You then use threaded rod with a nut and washer fitted through the cross ways hole. A lot of work but it will fix the problem.

 

[njlarry]

I'm not familiar with your boat, but if you have stainless keel bolts I would lower the keel to check for corrosion of bolts at keel hull joint . You don't need to remove it to get a good look just lower a inch or two. If I understand you . I would want to find out why you have a void in the hull above the keel suggest you talk to the manufacture about that.
It's a small problem that can get big in a hurry..That's my 2cents on the subject

SL, Could you please post some pictures of your project? I am very curious about the drilling techniques and how to get the horizontal hole for the nut line up with the vertical.