More keel work ahead

[jhenson]

I got to work today on the keel repair project. One of the areas I had been ignoring while this area dried out was at the rear of the lead casting. There was a very thick section of blue filler that was flaking away when I removed the bottom paint. I chose at the time to ignore it until my attention was focused on repairing the starboard skin. Water was dipping through holes where this filler had cracked and chipped away.

Today, it became obvious to me that all of it was unsound and needed to be removed. The resulting gap was much larger than I expected.



I looks to me that when the repair was made to the bottom of the false keel, the lead was ground way in front of the crack to repair the front face of the fiberglass fairing. This gap tapers to a little over an inch at the bottom.

The plan is to apply thickened epoxy in a few applications to keep the heat from building up. Then, I'll apply some cloth around the area.

My question: How many applications of filler would be appropriate, and how long should I wait between application. Will I need to hit the gap with a grinder after each layer, or can I do this during the cure stage?

Thanks,

Joe

[Tim]

It's common for lead ballast castings to be an ill fit with the surrounding fiberglass, since the two molds are rarely perfect in relation to each other. Unless there's evidence of grinder marks or some such inside the gap, it's likely that you're just seeing the result of this "normal" ill fit. Rarely does anyone have reason to remove all the fill and other material from these seams, so it's not common to see the whole thing exposed. But severe misalignments are quite common, more so on the lower end production boats.

You can fill that in 2 or 3 stages, and need only wait until the previous layer cools before applying more.

[Figment]

Or you could whittle a loosely-fitting hunk of wood to fill it in, and just goop it in there in one shot. If you're really ambitious, you could lay the cloth immediately and get it all done in one cure.

(I just did this to fill in an abandoned transducer location at the leading edge of my ballast keel)

[jhenson]

It's common for lead ballast castings to be an ill fit with the surrounding fiberglass, since the two molds are rarely perfect in relation to each other.

.

Well, there was cloth imbedded inside the gap with filler on either side, so I did not even considered that this could be factory work. But, when I think of it, the gap wouldn't make sense to be part of a repair. I confess to knowing little about how these boats were built.

Or you could whittle a loosely-fitting hunk of wood to fill it in, and just goop it in there in one shot.

I guess that I think these jobs are always more difficult than they really are. That sounds like a simple, quick, and easy solution.

Thank you both for your help. I had one of those exhausting downer days when the fix-it list seemed to grow faster that the fixed list. The good news is that the lockers seem to be turning out better than I expected and are nearing completion. My lack of experience with these repairs is, I am sure, appearent to all here. It sure is nice to get advice from those who have far more experience than I.

Joe

[Tim]

Joe,

For that matter, you could stick some more foam in there to take up the space. Either this or wood would minimize the amount of filler you required. Since you're just looking to fill the gap and provide a "mold" for your fiberglass, the actual material is really not that important (within reason...). The existing gap doesn't affect anything from a structural standpoint, though it would be better to have it filled and glassed.

And yes, you could certainly then slap on your outer layers of fiberglass all in one shot, completing the repair in one day.

It looks to me like you're doing great on all your projects. Those "down" days are irrevocably part of any big project--we all have them--but this too shall pass.

[jhenson]

Tim,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Man, these refits are major projects. Its amazing to me that you were able to do what you did with Glissando in two years!

Joe

[Invitation]

Or you could whittle a loosely-fitting hunk of wood to fill it in, and just goop it in there in one shot. If you're really ambitious, you could lay the cloth immediately and get it all done in one cure.

This would be my recommendation. Very easy to do, uses less epoxy and is really the proper way to fix this. Don't use plywood, use a solid wood like oak and make sure it is saturated on all sides before putting it in place then glass over it.