Thru-hull holes
Mr Dion is right-- speed transducers should be either a foot or more ahead of the keel, close to the centreline, or else far enough behind it to be out of turbulence (like darn near at the transom). Whoever installed the speed thru-hull beside the keel was unaware of this. Even most yards would know better. The depth transducer should also be ahead of the keel, but for different reasons. [wink] --foresight being better than hindsight! Don't be afraid of patching the holes. This can be easily done by laying up a decent layer of Fabmat inside the hull-- make sure you de-wax the surface first, and wash it down with acetone right before sticking the wetted-out mat side down. Let it sag a little into the hole from the inside. Roll it out thoroughly. Then when it's kicked-off go outside and grind off a bit of area around the hole, fill it, and lay up 10-oz cloth over the filler. Later fair in with microballoons or something and repaint the bottom. There should be no significant (or even detectable) loss of rigidity or strength, even so close to the keel. Fibreglass doesn't know as much about 'grain' and so forth as many people think, especially when the adhesion is good. Use a standard hole-saw to drill out your new holes (for a hull with any substantial Kevlar content, be prepared to throw the hole-saw away when you're done). File to fit. 5200 should be good enough as a sealer but there are even better things. Ask a repair yard first. Make sure whatever you use can take bottom paint. JC
