How bad does this keel separation look?

[CarbonSink62]

I'm looking at this C-25 and the starboard side of the keel is fine. The port side has three cracks each less than three inches long at the keel/hull join.

I'll attach the pictures and hope that works.

Does this look like a deal breaker?

I know that no separation is best and that this will need to be dealt with sooner or later. As long as it doesn't get worse, I think the boat is ok.

What do you guys think?

[paulk]

Looks like something that needs to be scraped out, filled, sanded & painted. Check the keelbolts. You could try putting some water in the bilge and looking to see if it leaks out those cracks right away. If it does, you'll need to do a better job filling the crack, which may entail removing/rebedding the keel. Keel may have hit something to create cracks like that, or could have gotten jostled in the Travellift, or it could just be the different materials in the hull and keel doing their expansion/contraction thing at different rates, and making the paint split. Have a good local fiberglass guy take a look for you and tell you what he thinks. Our keel has similar cracks by the end of each season. We fill & paint. We already own the boat, though, and know what to expect. If we were looking to buy a boat with cracks like that, we'd want to know how bad a headache it was likely to be, before it became our headache.

[Faster]

It doesn't look all that unusual to me.. pretty normal for a used boat with a bolt on keel.

Due diligence and all that, but this doesn't look like a potential dealbreaker in and of itself.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by CarbonSink62

I'm looking at this C-25 and the starboard side of the keel is fine. The port side has three cracks each less than three inches long at the keel/hull join.

I'll attach the pictures and hope that works.

Does this look like a deal breaker?

I know that no separation is best and that this will need to be dealt with sooner or later. As long as it doesn't get worse, I think the boat is ok.

What do you guys think?

Next time you could upload the pics to Tinypic, select message board resolution, and paste the message board IMG code link into your post. Then this will happen :

[bljones]

He'll go from a C-25 to a self-loading containership?

[bljones]

Carbon, as Faster said, it's pretty typical. Check the keelbolt torque and if everything is snug, then no worries.
It does, however, give you a bit of a price negotiating point if you let the seller know you are concerned and have misgivings... y'know unless it was cheaper, thereby making the risk more acceptable.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by bljones

He'll go from a C-25 to a self-loading containership?

Technically, I think that's a dry bulk carrier.

[CarbonSink62]

Thanks, guys; I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyone looking to buy a 1988 Catalina Capri 18 on a galvanized trailer? It's a sweet boat, but someone is moving up!

$4,200

I'm working on the equipment list and a real ad.

[Parley]

Seems like the beginnings of the 'ol Catalina "smile". Very typical on these older boats. My old C27 had it. Cleaned it out. Tightened up keel bolts. Re-glassed. Barrier coat and bottom paint. That was over 3 years ago and she's just fine.

[DesertPirate]

The Catalina smile. Early boats did not use SS keel bolts and they WILL rust. The good news is it not too expensive to repair the forward bolts. The yard can cut out a notch in the keel, drill in a new keel bolt hole, bolt it in, and then repair the keel. I guess the yard could cross drill under the more aft bolts and drill down from the bilge to add a new bolt, or bolts. I had my 1978 Catalina 27's forward bolts replaced for $500.