Rebed Keel Joint

[FourPoints]

I want/need to rebed my keel joint this year since I noticed a small amount of salt water leak in through one of the keel bolts last year (just a few ounces, nothing significant, but I don't want to let it persist). I spoke with the yard in the fall when I hauled out and they said it wouldn't be a problem to leave me in the travel lift over the weekend, provided they stick a set of stands under the boat to make sure it's stable and doesn't come down.

I just called to see if they can get me in there this weekend, and they said the only option is to do it one day during the week, paying for someone to be at the travel lift monitoring the whole time.

A) I don't know that I can (or should) get this done in one day, and B) I am not thrilled about the idea of paying someone for ~8 hours of yard time ($100/hr) to sit there and do nothing but keep an eye on the travel lift!

What are my other options, I don't think I can have the hull suspended only by the stands without the keel also blocked, can I? I thought the stands would be too small of an area to carry the weight of the keel suspended. Am I wrong?

 

[tommays]

First often it's stuck and ordeal to drop

The only way I have seen it done is a frame built to ballance the keel and then the hull lifted off

After it is off and everything is checked and cleaned the goop of your choice and back toghter

BUT it a pretty Tricky deal to line up the bolt holes and place the boat back on and I would be kind of shocked if a yard allowed a DIY ?

 

[s sauer]

Hull to Keel Joint

I would take a box cutter and cut out the sealant at the joint, then use a dremmel tool or a very narrow wire wheel in a portable drill to further clean out the joint, which typically can be about a 1/4". In areas where you can't get the sealant out, it probably has sufficient adhesion that it isn't leaking at that point. In any case, If it is a cast iron keel, I'd spray a rust conversion 'primer' into the top of the keel followed by sandpaper on the upper or fiberglass edges of the joint and folow up by squeezing as much 5200 into the joint with a caulking gun as it will take. Smooth the 5200 and let it cure for a week before painting over and Launching.

 

[FourPoints]

My bolts are long enough where I can drop it to the end of the bolts without taking the nuts off, and keep everything lined up, and still be able to get in there well enough to clean it out (I'm sure there will be plenty of curse words and scraped knuckles, but it'll get done).

As for cleaning it out, I really would prefer to do the job right and get new sealant inside the joint as opposed to just on the surface, but that may have to be good enough if I cannot figure this out.

The issue is how do I actually get it lifted so that the keel can be dropped a few inches, if I cannot leave it on the travel lift?

 

[berner73]

Had this done a year ago, very pleased with the result. It's a big job, and for it to look right on the other side you need to know how to fair the keel/hull joint. If you do it or farm it out, make sure you drop the keel far enough to inspect the entire length of the bolt's threads. If there's any crevice corrosion, it will likely occur on the length of the bolts that normally resides in the keel stub. If you find corrosion, you'll need to have the bolts replaced to fix it correctly. Lot's of posts/pictures about this over at SN.

The yard that did ours used boat stands, a frame and blocks. You can drop the keel down but not off the boat. Leave the length of the bolts which are normally visible in the bilge in the stub - with the rest exposed under the boat. On ours, there was plenty of vertical distance between the top of the keel and the bottom of the stub to work on cleanup and rebedding. As previously stated, it may not want to come off. I can't imagine DIY'ing this in a day, or doing it again because it wasn't done right the first time.

Good luck.

PM if you need more info.