Water in Keel _ O'day 22

[David Ware]

I have recently purchased a 1973 O'Day 22 which is in need of some updating and maintenance including repairing an area on the port side of the keel which has been pushed out from the inside until the fiberglass cracked. Assuming water had entered and froze I drill a series of vertical holes and found that water filled to the keel from the point of failure (about 6" below the hull! This boat has been on a trailer and was last in the water in 1997!Is this normal? Where did the water enter - is there a point of entry from the bilge? Do I have a serious problem that allowed water to eenter the keel?Has anyone else experienced this problem? I plan on adding a bronze drain plug as part of the repair.Thanks for help with this.

 

[Algae]

keel and water

I had a leak at the rear of my keel - a sort of crack that opened up when the boat came off the trailer- other related problems included the keel pushing up into the hull because of the weak fiberglass at the hull keel connection --- anyway --this was a major problem -- I fixed this problem -- the sole of the cabin had to be removed - this revealed much damage apparently from the freeze thaw cycle -flakey fiberglass ground out and replaced by many layers of epoxv on the inside and outside of the hull-- the boat is great now but it took much work - I hope that your boat is not in this shape!!!These boats can leak from anywhere on the deck to get the water into the bilge and the freezing weather does the rest -- good luckAlgae