Replacing keel bolts

[Matt Taylor]

I have a 73 Catalina 27 with a fixed fin keel. The keel bolts are pretty nasty looking. I would like some guidence in pulling the keel, replacing the bolts, and reinstalling the keel. My preliminary thinking is to drill the old bolts out, drop the keel, drill holes down from the top, drill holes from the side to accomodate new nuts, epoxy and fair the openings, and reinstall the keel. Has anyone done this and would you be kind enough to share your experience. ThanksMatt

 

[Randy]

call catalina

Try calling Catalina. I had the same questions on my C27 a couple years ago and got some good info from them. Your idea sounds very similar to one of the fixes they faxed me.I removed the nuts on my keel bolts and found the bolts to be ok. Just the exposed areas were rusted so I put new nuts on and touqued them to Catalinas specs. Good luck

 

[Scott Ma]

Been there, done that!

Check out my website at www.geocities.com/emofish1 ,I replaced my entie keel a few months ago.I have some photos on there that may help you. If you have more qeustions email me at smay@itcdeltacom.com