Rhodes 19 Ribs

[Ed]

Just pulled the floor out of my boat.The ribs don't look too bad. The thin layer of fiberglass at each end is broken and loose from the hull on a couple. And there is a little rot toward the ends at the hull level.Should I worry about replacing them?Could I get away with covering them in glass?How much do they really do structure wise...to me it appears not much?Also anyone know about the keel bolts. They are very rusty looks to be a pain to get them out and drop the keel.............is it worht replacing them?This is a project boat, I have another to sail so I am not in a great hurry, but I am if ya know what I mean.Thanks

 

[Vic "Seven"]

on my 1969 19 ...

1. the ribs were marginal ... but they really hold up the cast iron keel2. the bolts will probably break off if you really put pressure to them ... but on the new models I think the keel is held on with 1/4 in. SS bolts.in 1995 3. I ground about 12 inches of the gel coat off from the bottom of the boat on each side of the keel4. I chipped the cast iron, washed it with acetone, 5. I added two layers of that ramdom matt fiber glass to encapsulate the keel ... I use West6. ran three layers of fiberglass to integrate the keel to the bottomfirst was about 3 in .. wide both keel and bottom jointsecond was about 6in wide both keel and bottom jointthird was about 12. wide both keel and bottom jointFilled out as neededlasted 5 years and was still going at 8 years when I saw the boat last.i think the oak ribs are still available from the current manufacturer ... but that doesn't answer the problem of the cast iron keel flaking.The best thing to do is find one of the new 19s and look at how they did the fiberglass ribs ... and laugh at the little tiny bolts they use to attach the keel.

 

[Ed]

Mine's a 1960

So the bolts are very rusty, but I don't think they are in danger of corrioding thru yet.So did you replace your ribs?I had planed on using POR 15 to re-paint the keel and their thicken POR to bridge the keel hull joint.

 

[Vic]

No new ribs for me ...

but I was pretty sure the keel wasn't going anywhere.Ribs had some dry rot here and there... surface really didn't look good ... but no real signs that they were "gone"V