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Fixing the hole in the bottom of the keel pocket

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 8:08 am
by N41EF
Like most of us, at one time my keel cable had broken and the keel had swung forward and smack the pocket. On mine it had crushed the front of the pocket and was letting water in. Finaly got it fixed and thought I'd share.

Started with something like this:

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I used a ball mill with a battery drill to grind out the damage, untill I had good clean wood and fiberglass. My neighbor is a body guy and reccommended this filler:

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It's a fiberglass filler with strands of glass to reinforce it. You mix hardner with it like bondo, but it is a glass/resin mix, very nasty, wear gloves. I mixed about 2 OZ of the stuff and used a plastic spreader to fill the chunk, then put masking tape on to make sure the bottom didn't sag:

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It set up in 15 minutes and I used a sureform to clean the pocket and a sander to clean up the hull part:

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Then used regular resin and some UNI glass to put three layers or glass over it. First up and down, then accross, then up and down:

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Next is to sand, prime and will paint when I do the bottom. I'm pretty sure no one will ever know it was damaged. Total time was an hour. The glass string filler stuff would be great to fill a mast step or anywhere that you need a strong filler. I plan to use it to fill the several extra hols in my transom, put a piece of clear box tape on the outside, and fill the hole from inside.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 10:13 am
by Banshi
Mine had the same thing, I also added a heavy piece of rubber in this area to help prevent the damage from reoccurring,

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 11:32 am
by N41EF
I had thought about just glassing it over, but I had a piece of wood/glass missing that was about half the size of a golf ball. The strand fiberglass filler is absolutly rock hard after a few hours. Once it's painted I may put a piece of DIN rubber in there to cushion it when I lower the keel too far.

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 5:44 pm
by astrorad
great tips and great photos....I too have a small crack in the same location....

keel pocket crack??

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:09 pm
by Coreth
I may be suffering from the same thing. The Coreth is currently slipped at Arabella's Landing in Gig Harbo, WA. The wife and I sailed over here from Olympia to celebrate our anniversary. I've been trying to figure out where I sprang a leak since we got here. I initially thought the keel pin cap was leaking. Then I noticed a small stream running down the fiberglass in that same compartment that the keelpin assembly is located, on the port side. Problem is that I cannot access the area to assess the damage. We intend to finish this anniversary trip and head back to Olympia on Sunday. Question... the black disc in the walkway, portside... what is that??? Anyone? Any advice is appreciated.

Corey[/list]

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:28 pm
by N41EF
In the port locker where the keel pin is, up high and aft is the snubber that is suppossed to kep the keel from rocking back and forth. Mine had a galvinized pipe and cap screwed into a mount. Mine had corroded and was leaking water in the boat. When I did my keel plates I removed the snubber and glassed over it from the underside of the boat. No more leaks.