My keel has water trapped inside of it. I found that I had a missing screw on one of the plates- starboard side- that hold the centerboard axle wedges in place. The screw thread was stripped out. I removed the other screw on that side and alot of water came out. When I blow into the screw hole, I can hear there is a cavity in there. On the port side, both screws were in place, one came out easily and the other broke at the screw head. No water came out from that side. The fasteners are 1/4-20 SS flat heads, 2 in each plate. When I tried to dremel the broken screw head, the carbide bit would not penetrate it.
In the bilge, there are some rough areas of glasswork forward of the center beam, but mostly smooth epoxy coated glass. There must be a hole or crack that isn't visible, that bilge water is penetrating. I get water inside mostly when heady rain, wind forces through the companionway.
Does anyone know how the keel is constructed to give me some direction on how to further drain and fill the void in the keel? I couldn't tell what material the threads were cut into, fiberglass or a threaded insert? Since the area was wet, I couldn't get a good look to tell. I will return to the boat tomorrow, it should be dry enough to see.
In the bilge, there are some rough areas of glasswork forward of the center beam, but mostly smooth epoxy coated glass. There must be a hole or crack that isn't visible, that bilge water is penetrating. I get water inside mostly when heady rain, wind forces through the companionway.
Does anyone know how the keel is constructed to give me some direction on how to further drain and fill the void in the keel? I couldn't tell what material the threads were cut into, fiberglass or a threaded insert? Since the area was wet, I couldn't get a good look to tell. I will return to the boat tomorrow, it should be dry enough to see.
Attachments
-
298 KB Views: 191