Rusted fin keel bolts

[cactusmitch]

I read most of the closed thread. I often read about "lag" bolts. The Catalina Direct kit does not use "lag" bolts it uses a you cut to length piece of stainless steel all-thread. No one has talked about how the factory attached the keel. I have mostly rusted nuts on studs. Not enough it left to identify the alloy. The underside of the keel has be Bondo-ed and painted except there are areas of cracking peeling and rust.

My plan: cut off one rusted stub, file smooth, center punch a guide spot in the center of the guessed at stud, drill with 1/4' bit trying to match the angle of the present stud, if lucky, go to larger size drill bit, when near the inner size of the old thread, try to clean threads with a thread chaser. If unlucky in matching the old hole, cut a larger size hole for larger size hardware.

I would like to fill all voids with bolt and or thread sealant. If the outside of the keel does not have serious cracks voids etc, take off all rust and seal the outside of the keel, and then maintain the barrier to the water religiously. I have some phone taken pictures.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Well Cactus, sounds like you have a plan. But, we really need to see the pictures, for any tech advice. I don't know your situation at all, like how you move it, haul it, trailer it and the such. But from what I'm hearing, your best bet may be getting the nuts off, removing the keel so you can get a big ass pair of vice-grips, or better yet, a pipe wrench to get the studs out of the keel.
Otherwise, you have got a hell of a drilling project ahead of you, as those bolts/studs run deep. CD does sell a kit for drilling and tapping these out, and my suggestion would be to get it. By the time you round up all of that hardware, you'll have spent that much in time and money, AND aggravation locating it.
Drill slow. Very slow. And use lots of oil.

I would like to see some close up pictures of the bolts, and the keel as well.

 

[jfrench]

<<when near the inner size of the old thread, try to clean threads with a thread chaser.>>

A left-handed cobalt drill bit set is good for this task. As you drill away most of the body of the bolt, the left-handed threads grab the thin remaining shell of the bolt and pull the threads away from the female threads into which they are mated. You'll end up pulling a foil-like set of threads out of the hole. See this link for some examples of drill sets:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lef...pw.r_qf.&fp=fc6f3bda556a6947&biw=1065&bih=625

 

[CaptDon01]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but the keel bolts are not threaded into the keel. The keel bolts are an "L" shape that are molded into the keel. They are not removeable. But like I said, maybe I'm missing something......

I've attached a drawing from Catalina Yachts on a recommened method used to install new keel bolts on a C-27. I would think a similar solution would work on a C-22. But it would require removal of the keel. This would not be a bad idea so the plywood support in the keel sump could be replaced,(applies to first generation boats). If it's not already soft and rotten, it eventually will be. Do it right the first time, and you'll only have to do it once.

Don

 

[jfrench]

I didn't pay close attention to the "fin" keel phrase. My note about drilling out rusted bolts was just general advice. I assumed we were discussing stuck mounting bolts for a swing keel. My bad.

 

[seaker236]

I have an "84" C22 fin keel and the keel bolts are indeed aprox. 12" of 1/2" threaded rod, I was able to lock two nuts together at the top and extract one rod for inspection and it was fine, however I have yet to do the rest.
I would like to see some picts, especially if you remove the keel.
Bob

 

[cactusmitch]

I have an Iron keel the "J" bolts are used in the lead keel. I think... I'm a newbee here. I chiseled the rust off the bolts on the inside of the bilge. Mostly a got lucky and the washer split and came out. On a few nuts a six pointed deep socket wedged on. When twisted, the all thread broke. With all nuts off, I wedged the iron off the stub. I supported the hull about 3/8" above support for the keel. The all threads kept the iron from falling the fraction of an inch. The I raised the hull another 3/8" or so. I used a construction scaffold and a limber board stern and then forward. The scaffold comes with screw leg adjustments that are designed for masonry work and are sufficiently heavy duty.
A pair of bolt cutters not fully pinched onto the all thread were good for breaking the studs loose in all but one case. Ugly grinding was necessary. The "Easy Outs" sold at local Ace Hardware did not work. Drill bits broken: 5! The worst is when the drill bit breaks in the hole. Bits are harder than all thread and easily go off center. The upper part of the bolts were drive up wards, sometimes requiring twisting with pipe wrench. Lots of rust compressed the "bolt" into the hole. Encapsulated keels no longer are as appealing after this project.,

 

[cactusmitch]

Attached are the pictures. Rust is bigger than iron. The bolts, (all=thread) were in the holes tight!

 

[cactusmitch]

The threads are all rust. Oxidization goes about 1/16" into the shank of the bolt. The keel still has good threads. Rust all over the sides and bottom of keel but top is passable.