Leaks Around Keel Bolts 93 H30'

[Tim]

I have a constant seepage of water around the keel bolts on my 30' Hunter. Will re-torque(ing) the keel bolts help or will the keel need to be dropped and re-sealed? Does anyone have experience with a simular problem?Thanks for your help,Tim

 

[Bill Boyke]

Fill the crack and fiberglass over

There has been some commentary in the past forums on keel leakage. I had leakage on my 1975 H30. The strong nearly unanimous choice (including Hunter Service) was to clear the joint, fill and fair with a structural filler, I used West Epoxy with structural filler after clearing the joint with a Dremel, fiberglassing over the joint(wide strips first, thinner strips later, and finally coating with another filler for fairing and barrier coating. As long as the bolts are tight there should be no problems with cracking at the seam, but I don't have alot of time on the water yet and no groundings or collisions to test my work.

 

[Doug Margison]

You might consider Marine caulking.

I had a Catalina 30 that had a crack at the connection point to the hull. There was quite a bit of seepage into the bilge. It was there when I purchased the boat and had it surveyed. The surveyor suggested that I simply route out the joint and use a marine caulking to seal the joint rather than epoxy filler as it was not a concern of sea worthiness. He suggested this would work better because caulking is flexible and after a while epoxy or polyester would probably crack again. Did as he suggested and had the boat for another 6 years without any problems.I cannot remember the type of caulking he recommended, but it was a high performance caulk that is suitable for below water line application.Good luck,Doug,Mokum II

 

[Doug]

Bill's got the right idea

That is the recommended fix to your problem. As he said, make sure the keel bolts are tight, otherwise you will just crack your new repair when healed or grounded.Doug

 

[Doug]

One more comment

After you clear joints, as per Bill's suggestion, you may want to make a heavy guage plastic film tent around the upper part of the keel and put a good heater in there for a day or two. Then make sure to blow it out with a compressor. It's a shame to spend time digging and dremeling only to get a poor bond with epoxy/sealant due to wet or dirty surfaces.Doug

 

[Royce Hallock]

Keel Bolts

I had a problem with my 76 h30 and I removed one nut at a time and the washer underneath, cleaned the area, and put down a good bead of 5200, then put the washer & nut back on and tighten.Good luck with your project.