Water leaked from top of keel at haulout

[Windancer]

When I hauled out my 1986 Hunter 31 last fall I was surprised to see water seeping out from where the keel mates to the hull. During the summer I did hit a rock fairly hard, but other than the leak, the keel looks good. The bolts are clean, but I couldn't budge them. I can really use some advice!

Thx.

 

[Guest]

Keel

The right way to fix the leak is to lift the boat off of the keel, clean the keel and keel stub joint surfaces, have someone with a trained eye check to make sure the keel bolts are sound and have not been stretched from the impact, re-bed the keel to keel stub joint, torque the keel bolts and the boat should be as good as new.

However, depending on the impact it may pay to hire a marine surveyor to inspect the FRP in front and behind the keel stub for hull damage. That is where the most flexing occurs from an impact. If so those repairs need to be made first before finishing the keel re-bed. Most quality marine insurance companies will cover these kinds of accidents, less any deductibles.

Then again, depending upon how much the boat means to you, how long you plan on keeping it, others might suggest that you clean the open joint area, squirt in some sealant, re-torque the keel bolts and call it good. Then later on sell the boat to some unsuspecting newby.

Terry Cox

 

[Steve Dion]

Are you sure that it is leaking around the keel bolts? These boats have an inner and outer hull/liner. Water gets trapped between the two and you will see water leaking into the bilge area. Have you checked to see if it is salt or fresh water.

If you hit a rock and it is salt water, you may want to have the yard pull the boat and see if there is any detectible damage that they can spot.

 

[Windancer]

Leaking at keel

This is great advice, all!
As far as I can tell, there isn't water entering the boat. The amount of water in the bilge is consistent with my need to repack the shaft. And if that were salt water, I'd be having this conversation in a different forum. (I sail in Lake Erie ).

I saw the water leak out of the top of the keel as the boat came out of the lake in the straps. I thought perhaps the bolts needed tightening, and with the boat sitting on the keel, I figured I could give it a go. Not a chance. I tried as hard as I could, but they wouldn't budge. Trying to tighten 1 7/8" bolts that haven't been touched in 23 years is tough, regardless that they are nice and clean.

 

[Ketoj]

Not necessarily a cause for excitement

Most Hunters of this vintage have some water residing between the keel and hull. There is inevitably a pundulum effect when healed over that breaches whatever seal or caulking the seam is filled with. It's not unusual to see the joint "bleed" for a while at haulout. I wouldn't be too concerned. No matter how much effort you put into sealing the keel/hull seam, water will find it's way in.

 

[Guest]

Joint

Two follow-up points FWIW:

1. In reference to repairing the keel stub joint that I wrote, if done the right way it will not leak, period. Water leaking out of the joint when the boat is lifted out of the water is not normal and is an indication that the joint has been compromised and that a repair is needed.

2. If it were my boat I would find out why the keel bolt nuts cannot be moved. SS nuts should not freeze on SS keel bolts. One possibility is that the hit experienced by the keel could have stretched the bolt threads causing the nuts to bind at that point, which weakens the point where the nut attaches to the keel bolt. One way to fix this is to fabricated FRP washers thick enough to raise the nut into fresh keel bolt threads.

Terry Cox