Leaky Keel?

[Anchor Lady]

Hello my always helpful Sailboat Forum,

My 1980 O’day 30 might have an issue.

Last fall I put anifreeze in the bilge so it wouldn’t freeze while in the cradle last winter. Today I went to the boat and the antifreeze is gone and the bilge is bone dry.

I later put a gallon of water in the bilge to test, an hour later there appeared to be a small leak under the keel.Is it possible my keel leaks and it is coming from my bilge? If so where do I start to repair this?

Thanks as always

Jim

 

[Rich Stidger]

I would try to confirm the keel leak by putting dyed water in the bilge and absorbent paper under the keel where you saw the leak. Any kind of keel leak is likely to involve significent work and cost. I would not want to begin this work without being absolutely sure I had a problem.

 

[DougM]

I don’t know the keel bolt layout in the bilge of your boat, but if you have bolts that are in the low point, I would suggest looking around those for cracks and seepage. If you have liquid leaking out, you are certainly going to have water intrusion when the boat is launched.
Do you recall having hit anything with the keel when the boat was last in the water or did it take a hard hit when the yard placed the boat in the cradle when it was hauled out?

 

[Tally Ho]

Does the bilge look like this one?

1980 O day 30 hull problems

I have an 1980 oday 30 and this is my problem I have a 40 year old Oday I bought just a few years ago and last season when I put it on the hard I looked at the very bottom of the inside of my hull and found this. I am sure the previous owner did not completely drain the hull and it froze and...

forums.sailboatowners.com

what does the outside of the keel / stub look like?

To be really sure, you would probably need to drop the keel check bolts for wear and corrosion, check the layup in the bilge/stub area, rebed the keel joint and put it back togethe....a big job for sure.

Greg