I'm working on the same issue. I have a 1978 O'Day 25 with the centeboard. At some point in it's life, before the owner I bought it from, the keel trunk had water intrusion and it froze and cracked the keel. There is a repair from that event on the back bottom of the keel. It started to delaminate so I've been making repairs, removing the old repair to solid material and re-fiberglassing. The previous owner, and I assume the owner before him (after the freeze crack), drill a hole in the bottom back of the keel (just behind where the centerboard slot starts) every Autumn after the boat is pulled for the winter to drain out water that has intruded in the lead ballest void. When I drilled it last November a good amount of water poured out and it continues to drip (slowly) for weeks / a month or more.
I have the same question - where is the water intrusion coming from? It's not coming from up inside the boat bilge, I know that because there is no water in the bilge when the boat is in the water. So it has to be coming from the keel. I spoke shortly with Rudy at D&R Marine and he wasn't sure either, but he didn't have time to get into details. I will call him this coming winter when he has time to talk and find out all I can. It would seem logical that there are only three places water could enter the keel void. Either a crack(s) in the keel somewhere, the penchant tube entry as a previous post here showed, or through the bolts in the metal plates that hold the centerboard holding mechanism up at the front of the keel trunk. My penchant tube has a little wear slot (maybe 1/8 inch?) from the wire cable (my year model still had the wire cable attached to a rope, later models got rid of the metal cable) but it doesn't look like enough to allow water intursion. Some water did come out the bolt holes when I removed the centerboard, but no way to know if it got there through the bolts holes.
Another question is when they "glasses over" the keel void after putting in the lead ballest, did they pour in resin and fill up the entire void, or did they just glass over the top to seal the inside with some void space around the lead? Is there open space around the lead ballest / inside the keel trunk? How was this process done? When I tap around the keel trunk I get a hollow sound in the center area but solid on the bottom and ends. Is this normal? Or has the water intursion over the years damaged / broken up some of the fiberglass fill and created some voids?
I tried to find the post from the guy mentioned in this thread who salvaged an O'Day 25 and took photos of the keel trunk when he removed it, but I can't find his post in a forums search. If anyone knows the link please provide it here on this thread.
Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.
West Basin
July 2020
I have the same question - where is the water intrusion coming from? It's not coming from up inside the boat bilge, I know that because there is no water in the bilge when the boat is in the water. So it has to be coming from the keel. I spoke shortly with Rudy at D&R Marine and he wasn't sure either, but he didn't have time to get into details. I will call him this coming winter when he has time to talk and find out all I can. It would seem logical that there are only three places water could enter the keel void. Either a crack(s) in the keel somewhere, the penchant tube entry as a previous post here showed, or through the bolts in the metal plates that hold the centerboard holding mechanism up at the front of the keel trunk. My penchant tube has a little wear slot (maybe 1/8 inch?) from the wire cable (my year model still had the wire cable attached to a rope, later models got rid of the metal cable) but it doesn't look like enough to allow water intursion. Some water did come out the bolt holes when I removed the centerboard, but no way to know if it got there through the bolts holes.
Another question is when they "glasses over" the keel void after putting in the lead ballest, did they pour in resin and fill up the entire void, or did they just glass over the top to seal the inside with some void space around the lead? Is there open space around the lead ballest / inside the keel trunk? How was this process done? When I tap around the keel trunk I get a hollow sound in the center area but solid on the bottom and ends. Is this normal? Or has the water intursion over the years damaged / broken up some of the fiberglass fill and created some voids?
I tried to find the post from the guy mentioned in this thread who salvaged an O'Day 25 and took photos of the keel trunk when he removed it, but I can't find his post in a forums search. If anyone knows the link please provide it here on this thread.
Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.
West Basin
July 2020
