Hi Everyone,
I have a 1982 MacGregor Venture with a swing keel. When we bought the boat we could see significant cracks in the glass for the keel but figured it would be somewhat superficial rebuild, but once we got the boat up we could see that the repair was pretty significant.
We haven't fully lowered and removed the keel yet just due to the logistical challenges, but will be doing so. We decided to pull off all the glass. The structure of the keel is an iron bar that had some bad corrosion and it's embedded into the lead weight. A wood form was abutted to the bottom of the iron bar.
The top was basically formed by bondo covered by fiberglass.
Here's what the keel looks like now:
The metal bar is embedded in what I assume to be a lead bulb. It seems pretty well attached.
So we are looking to basically rebuild the keel. Is the way this keel is built legit? Looking for general comments, advice on the best approach. I'm assuming I need to build a mold to recreate the top bondo? Anyone taken on a project like this before?
Appreciate the feedback - it's my first post to this group.
I have a 1982 MacGregor Venture with a swing keel. When we bought the boat we could see significant cracks in the glass for the keel but figured it would be somewhat superficial rebuild, but once we got the boat up we could see that the repair was pretty significant.
We haven't fully lowered and removed the keel yet just due to the logistical challenges, but will be doing so. We decided to pull off all the glass. The structure of the keel is an iron bar that had some bad corrosion and it's embedded into the lead weight. A wood form was abutted to the bottom of the iron bar.
The top was basically formed by bondo covered by fiberglass.
Here's what the keel looks like now:
The metal bar is embedded in what I assume to be a lead bulb. It seems pretty well attached.
So we are looking to basically rebuild the keel. Is the way this keel is built legit? Looking for general comments, advice on the best approach. I'm assuming I need to build a mold to recreate the top bondo? Anyone taken on a project like this before?
Appreciate the feedback - it's my first post to this group.
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