posted October 23, 2004 09:11 AM               

When I purchased her 4 years ago, I had to make a small repair to the bottom, leading edge. It looked like there had been a small grounding.

However, every spring since, I've noticed cracks on the bottom and lower sides of the keel. I would repair them, and the next spring, same thing. The only reason for this is water freezing! This season, water would drip for a couple days after hauling out!

I completely stripped Paradise, for this job, and annual winter storage. She was as light as can be. I drove her over to a friends shop, where he has a couple of lift trucks. I lowered the keel down to a skid on the ground, and raised the trailer c/w boat,
with the forklifts.

I was inside and lowered the keel some more. Once it was down 24", I drilled out the plate, and removed the securing and retaining nut. Working with the pallet truck and the forklifts, the keel was freed from the trunk.

At this stage, the heavy keel didn't fall out because it was leaning against the screw inside the trunk. I hand screwed the screw into the keel, so we could slide the keel out from under the boat, on the skid using the pallet truck.

This removal job went extremely well. Probably only took 30 minutes. The pallet truck was an asset because it enabled us to regulate lowering the keel smoothly, and with great control. Re installation should go just as smooth [I hope ]

With the keel out, I could see clearly some damage on the trailing edge about 5" from the top, [where the red line of old bottom paint is] where it impacted the the hull, during the grounding [I'm assuming]. There was lots of water inside. I drilled several holes in the bottom, and let it pour out!
I've now got the winter to let it dry, and work out a plan of action for the keel's repair.
Again, this job turned out to be much simpler than I anticipated. Having access to the heavy equipment made it an easy job!

I've seen pics of guys removing swing keels from other boat types, and I think the Sandpiper keel is easier to remove. But that's my biased opinion .

Eric

posted October 23, 2004 04:56 PM               

So how hollowed is it?

Late this season when I was working on replacing keel rollers on my trailer, I too noticed water accumulating on the bottom of the keel, just prior to dripping off.

posted October 24, 2004 09:06 AM               

quote:

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So how hollowed is it?

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I'm not quite sure.
Can I get back to you on that?

Eric

posted October 24, 2004 11:50 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Eric:
I'm not quite sure.
Can I get back to you on that?

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posted October 24, 2004 05:01 PM            

Basically the keel is like two formed fiberglass halfs (ie split down the centerline of the boat) with formed lead billets in between.
The lead ballast does not fill the entire keel.
The leading and trailing edges of the keel are completely hollow for about 4" (in direction of boat axis) all the way from top to bottom, if I remember correctly. Maybe more on the trailing edge.

If you tap on the side of the keel it may sound hollow.

If you ground real hard, like onto rock at speed, you will likely smash in the forward lower leading edge and a small area of the trailing edge in line with the bottom of the boat (the keel will tend to pivot back and make hard contact with the boat at that point).

There is a hole down thru the lead billets with a pipe sleeve running from the top to the bottom of the keel. The indside diameter of the pipe sleeve is slightly larger than the screw by maybe 3/8" to 1/2" diamemter. If your screw gets really bent(will happen from a hard grounding that caused the keel to pivot back), the bottom end of the screw may actually scrape the inside of the sleeve and you will feel it as you crank the keel up. The keel will also tend to wobble as you raise it and may even tap lightly against the keel trunk.

The "nut" that the screw travels in is screwed to the top of the lead.

After I had repaired my keel to better than new condition, I bought a depth sounder.

posted October 25, 2004 06:04 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Darcy:
Eric, Fred: All of us who never look at our keels because they are out of sight thank you.

D'Arcy

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Well I don't all that much about sailing, but I do know that 50% of what makes it go forward is in the water.
Remember; "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

Its easy to look up at your nice pretty and well formed sails, but they wont do #%&^ without a well formed and looked after keel.

posted October 25, 2004 09:38 PM               

I figure I should go at it fairly agressively first, with a sander and some 80 grit. I've got bottom paint to strip, (need PPE here), some minor damage to repair, and then fairing. Fairing can be done inside in the winter!

Another development. The keel isn't as hollow as it seems. Yes there are some places, and I bet I'll use very little epoxy to fill it. The beauty is, I can drill small exploritory holes to check depth and size. As I fill these holes with thickened epoxy, the voids will fill and stiffen. The cavity around most of the keel must be small, the glass work heavy, because maybe 10-15 percent of the keel had hollow thuds when wrapped with my knukles.

Eric