[Rhodes22-list] Cracks in keel

The Rhodes 22 Email List rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Tue Jun 17 16:31:21 EDT 2014


I have finally put my boat  into the lift I built so that I can begin work
on the cracks in the keel and would welcome any advice as to how this might
be fixed and speculation as to the cause so that I might prevent it from
happening again.

Picture 1 is of the boat in the lift. This allows me to get under the keel
to work in reasonable comfort.
The next two pictures show the cracks with the camera under the keel looking
up. The centreboard is removed. The cracks run along the edge where the
bottom of the keel meets the inside of the centreboard slot.

As for the cause, I suspect that some time in the past the keel was damaged
leaving a crack that allowed water to enter where it might have froze in the
winter doing further damage. On the other hand I would have thought that the
water would have drained out before freezing temperatures were reached.

There appears to be voids in the keel. The last shot shows were I was
drilling out osmosis blisters and went right through the skin into a void.
Tapping on the skin often creates a hollow sound suggesting that there are
plenty more voids. It seems to me that voids under the skin are a recipe for
problems. Drilling holes and pumping in epoxy would not be that difficult
for those I find under the outside skin but would be much more difficult for
voids under the skin in the centreboard slot - which currently looks intact.
I thought I might drill a series of holes through the cabin bottom into the
keel and push more epoxy down from above. To find voids I might need to
drill a lot of holes.

As for the cracks, my current plan, absent any other ideas, is to open the
cracks to allow access with a cartridge tip and force thickened epoxy up
into the crack. I would then apply layers of cloth and epoxy from about 3"
up to the slot down and around the bottom and up 3" on the outside. I have
ground out a bevel on the inside to allow for layers of cloth to be added
without making the slot too narrow for the centreboard. 

When all that is done I plan to do the whole bottom - drill out blisters and
do the blister prevention program recommended by West System. I don't want
to ever do this again so suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Graham 

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