I recently purchased a 1979 Oday30 with a fixed keel. It appears to be a encapsulated keel, no keel bolts. The keel needs some fiberglass work, does anyone know what the keel is filled with?
Oday 30 Keel Repair
- Thread starter SteveBronx
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I can't tell you too much about the O'Day 30 except that one of my friends bought one and he loves this boat. As it turns out he had the same issue with the keel on this boat. He's a cabinet maker by trade but he has refurbished many sailboats and is pretty savvy to the techniques used.
He used that new West System Six 10 to fill the gap in the keel and it came out great. He swears by this stuff. Check it out:
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/new-six10-epoxy-adhesive/
Joe
I have tried repair on a Catalina keel with the 610 before. Easy to work with, but would continue to have the "catalina smile" This season I tried G-Flex which is more flexible when cured. I haven't sailed the boat (it's for sale currently if you check the Muskegon MI craiglist ad) so can't comment on actual results other than flexure in your patch may be desireable. It is still a west systems solution.
I have an 1984 Oday 30 and one spring I discovered a crack in the keel. After a lot of investigation we discovered the screws that fasten the bilge pump to the bottom of the bilge had worn through and water from the bilge was leaking into the keel. The water eventually froze (we live in Wisconsin) and caused the crack.
If I recall, the keel is filled with both lead and a granular cement-like material, so we were forced to dry out the keel material before the repair work could be done. They had to bore out several larger holes so they could get enough air on the material so it would dry. If was time consuming and expensive...about $6,0000 total.
Hope your's isn't as severe.
If I recall, the keel is filled with both lead and a granular cement-like material, so we were forced to dry out the keel material before the repair work could be done. They had to bore out several larger holes so they could get enough air on the material so it would dry. If was time consuming and expensive...about $6,0000 total.
Hope your's isn't as severe.
Thanks, that seems to be what happened to mine.The fiberglass liner that forms the bilge delaminated at the point where it connects to the hull. Water then got into the keel and froze. A crack formed at the bottom of the keel. The keel did not seem to be distorted but the cement material seemed to deteriorate. So now i have a crack about 1/4 to 3/8" wide along about 2/3 the length of the keel.
I planned to fill crack with thickened epoxy, then grind and place fiberglass patch around bottom of keel and up sides. Of course also seal inside of bilge.
What did they do to your boat after the material dried?
I planned to fill crack with thickened epoxy, then grind and place fiberglass patch around bottom of keel and up sides. Of course also seal inside of bilge.
What did they do to your boat after the material dried?
Most of work went into sealing up the bilge, they had to reglass with multiple layers to make it strong enough and to seal out the moisture. I wasn't there to watch the repair, but I believe they cut out the glass around the crack and reglassed the crack and the large drying holes.
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