P-26 rehab the keel

[shadylady]

I'm rehabbing a 1971 p-26 from the ground up. First project at hand was to remove bottom paint and see what i have and to look at the seal joint between keel and fiberglass bottom. Looking at the rust build up on keel bolts it time to replace them. Any ideal on located the bolts?

 

[bffatcat]

p26 rehab

Ive got a 1975 P26W the Keel bolts are fine Keel bolts have not been
a source of trouble on P26`s I would have a competent surveyor look at them before considering replacement. You can probably get replacement bolts
from D&R marine Assonet MA or find the correct size on Dan Phieffer pearson site on the web. Be sure and get galvanized bolts. One more comment
about 10 years ago a friend of mine replaced the keel bolts on a columbia 26
at a yard in MA They drilled holes for the new bolts along side the old ones
This job cost $4000 Im sure it would cost more today. You need some heavy duty tools and a lot of expertise to do a job like this. Another source of problems on Pearson 26 is the rudder post If you need one you can get a new Original equipment rudder with a stainless steel post from D&R. Finally
if the boat has structural problems, old sails and original rigging the cost of repairs would be more than than It would cost to buy a sound P26. there are plenty of good one still around They built almost 2000 of them between 1970 and 1981 Ive got a sound one It dosent leak a drop any where There are no structural problems and Its got fairly recent sails. I dont think I could get $5000 for it if I wanted to sell it., I dont Good Luck I hope this has been some help. Be careful

 

[silentbid]

Looks like the keel bolts need replacement on our 76 p26. Rust is weeping from thin crack line on side of keel/hull joint. Can the bolts be cut off and driven through one at a time. Seen mention of it, but not from anyone who as actually had it done. Thanks in advance,
SilentBid

 

[shadylady]

I remove one of the bolts and found thread showing, nuts are almost rusted off. I needed to replace all bolts, and to replace my lighting/Electrical ground plane to the keel. I'm in search for the bolts. Do any one know were to find stainless taper head 5/8" x 3" bolts?

 

[shadylady]

I just remove one, on the keel side they are cover up with body filler and the bolts are bury under there. I clean the filler out and ground of the nut nut and drove the bolt out. Now in search for new one

 

[silentbid]

Thank you ShadyLady! Appreciate the pictures. You said you need to replace all bolts, but have replaced one so far? You gouged out the filler on the keel covering the bolt head and after removing the nut, drove it through? Any more info appreciated.
SilentBid

 

[silentbid]

Here's the site that has a link to where you can order replacement bolts: http://dan.pfeiffer.net/p26/keel.htm
I thought I saw it posted somewhere else in this forum as well.

 

[NYSail]

Hey Shady... I am not expert in this area, but find it hard to believe that a keel bolt is only 3" long and made to support a metal keel. By the way the picture looks corrosion may be the reason the bolt is so short. 3 inches sounds like the hull thiclness where the keel attaches and maybe this is the area where water got in and corroded the bolts.

Again, this is just my observation... sure there are people that know much more that can share some input.

Good Luck!

 

[shadylady]

Hi NYSail I did some more research on the bolt and i was wrong, there are 3 1/2" long. They count the taper of the bolt. From web page http://dan.pfeiffer.net/p26/keel.htm (Keel Bolts
The P26 keel is attached to the hull with eight 5/8 x 3-1/2" 11-TPI ( Threads Per Inch) flat head bolts. The bolts fit from holes in the top flange of the cast iron keel up through the bottom of the hull. The holes in the keel are filled over after the keel is installed. In a letter to the Pearson Current (newsletter of the NPYOA) Bill Shaw gave a torque spec of 70 lb-ft for the 5/8" keel bolts.McMaster-Carr has what look to be suitable replacement bolts, washers and nuts. ) So I'm still looking for it. I toke the bolt to a local machine shop and he believe the bolt is 404 stainless steel, but the nut he think it was a hot galvanize and this is why it was rust through.

Shady lady

 

[shadylady]

 

[shadylady]

Here is the closes match to the keel bolt, Alloy steel bolt

 

[bffatcat]

P26 replacement bolts

The original Keel bolts on my 75 P26w are galvanized They are still in good condition. This is probably due to the fact that the boat spent 25years on lake Champlain before I bought it. Its been in salt water now for 10 seasons no trouble yet. Keepin my fingers crossed. I know two people that have replaced
keel bolts in the last several years and both of them had new bolt holes drilled along side the old ones After more than 30 years of seeping, rusting, corrosion, delamination etc: I would carefully check the old holes to see if they are suitable for new bolts. I see in one of your posts you are considering
stainless bolts. A Stainless bolt is not as strong as a galvanized steel bolt. Before you use stainless you might want to make sure the bolts are strong enough for the job Good Luck

 

[silentbid]

Thank you Shadylady. Mission Accomplished! Pounded out 4 bolts and replaced them with the new McMaster-Carr replacements. The other 4 bolts were OK and replaced the rusted nuts. Pounding out the bolts was a huge pain except for the front bolt, which turned out to be fairly loose once we got it started and may be the root cause of the problem. The front bolt was rusted tight to the nut, but after a few shoves, the whole thing spun.

What did you replace the bolt holes in the keel with - bondo?

 

[shadylady]

Silentbid, great to hear it coming together for you. What i used so far is around the head of the bolt (3M adhesive sealant 5200) for the next 30 plus year. and once it was dry i used West System body filler to fill in the bolt holes and the rust out hole on the keel. After that Epoxy thickened like catsup and role paint it over the keel, that it so far would like to add 1 or more coating of epoxy after sand it down:dance:

 

[silentbid]

We have a line where the keel meets the hull. It has tightened up with the new bolts. Did you have a similar line/crack, and if so did you fill it with the West System body filler as well? We used an angle grinder to gain access to this seam and filled it with 5200. We'll follow your advice about the bolt heads and 5200 and filling the bolt holes with the body filler. Just don't know what to cover the keel line/crack with. Thank you again for the advice!

 

[shadylady]

Silentbid I filled the joint with 5200, let it set and then added body filler to close up the joint, then cover with a coating of epoxy. there no more joint line. Joint line is gone. I'll take a picture tomorrow to show you

 

[silentbid]

Hi Shady, I'm off to buy the West System body filler... What type did you buy? I checked out their videos and will back out bolts one at a time and fill the hole with thickened epoxy and get 5200 on bolt head and then re-insert the screw. I'll let that dry and then fill in the bolt hole in the keel flange with the body filler (what type?) and then like you said roll on epoxy. Are you planning to use any fiberglass cloth along the keel line or are you all set with just applying your second coat of epoxy?

 

[silentbid]

Hi Shady, FYI I think the boat went into today. Painted the bottom Saturday after spending the past weekends filling bolt holes with peanut buttery 404 mix and filling the hull/keel line with the same mix and then painting it over with resin/hardener. Hopefully when we go to see it this weekend it's nice and dry. Thanks again for all your advice!

 

[shadylady]

Good luck and send pictures, I'm about 2 weeks away from putting Shady back in.