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Crack in front of encapsulated keel

9K views 19 replies 16 participants last post by  pauloman 
#1 · (Edited)
Walking around the boat today I noticed a crack at the front of my encapsulated keel. I have never seen this crack before, not sure what happened here ... my boat has been on the "hard" for about 9 months and maybe it has something to do with how it has been sitting. I haven't hit anything hard. Who knows but at any rate the crack looked fresh, no signs of water having entered it. The crack is right below where the mast support post meets a side-to-side (latitudinal?) stringer. There seems to be a soft or separated layer of laminate about 1/8" deep that I can stick a screwdriver into. I can access the inside of the hull in front of the crack, and there is a fore-aft running crack visible there (last picture).

My questions are:

-How big of a deal is this? Is this a sign of some serious structural issues?

-How do I fix this? Can I just bevel the crack out a half inch now, fill with thickened epoxy, and launch? I am guessing a full 12:1 bevel and laying in new fiberglass mat/cloth over this area would be the best solution?

Thanks.
 

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#4 ·
Looks like a grounding stress fracture that's been there for some time and having just made itself visible on the outside of the hull. Is the keel fully supported or loaded up too much on the hard? I'd grind it out to see what's going on and to see it isn't spreading. Epoxy with colloidal and biaxle mat for the outside and drill the crack out from the inside and fill with West six-ten. Get a second on site opinion.
 
#6 ·
I am afraid that does look serious and is certainly structural. You need profesional advice the repair will consist of grinding back to undamaged laminate. The area of glass around this is then removed to create a suitable scarf and then new glass is laid down.
 
#7 ·
You didn't say if you were the original owner. I assume you bought this boat used, hopefully recently and though a Broker. Maybe you can go back and get a partial refund as the boat isn't seaworthy without repair. That said, If you look at the first picture the joint between the hull and the keel is very apparent. If you grind the paint off the lower front of the keel you'll probably find extensive repairs there. I'd say it was probably severely grounded at one point or another. Hopefully you had the boat surveyed when you bought it and the surveyor didn't see the crack inside. So the inside damage didn't occur until recently, probably when it was put on the hard. It's probably not the yard's fault, it's just that your keel is weak.

That said, some ones going to have to drill a bunch of big holes down to the keel through that crack inside and repair it, I'd drill some holes below the crack on the outside a foot or so down to see if there is any water in the keel as well. Then you need to grind out the area and probably the whole keel to hull joint and repair it properly with epoxy and glass, not just filler or Bondo. This is a big, expensive job. Have a professional look at it if you're not a pro yourself.
 
#8 ·
I would suggest that you have someone look at it, but take care that you don't get misled and spend a lots more money than you need to spend. There's a lot of fiberglass supporting the keel, so that may make it less of an issue. Don't know where the boat was kept, but if water got in between fiberglass layers (voids), it could have frozen and cracked the fiberglass. If the same size crack was on a boat with bolt-on keel, then I would be concerned that it would be a major/serious issue. Check it out, maybe get several people with knowledge of boat repairs to give an opinion and estimate to do the work. Just, saying, be careful. I see boats getting expensive bottom peels in yards when often all they need to do is spend some time opening and expoxing blisters. If you have water inside keel and haul out for winter, you will want to make sure to get it out.
 
#9 ·
You need to assess how far from the actual crack the fiberglass is delaminated as it will look kind of cloudy in the delaminated areas that have not cracked

The other big issue is the area in picture three as if its really cracked that is a LOT of glass

Zzzoom 1970 C&C 35 has had big repairs twice ONCE form were and tear and ONCE form a rock strike and we are DIYs BUT these were 12 to 20 thousand dollar jobs

A proper repair is grinding out 100% of the delaminated/cracked material and going at with a LOT of cloth as resin is not going to do to much
 
#10 ·
Since there are cracks inside and outside, and some delamination, and the area is a generally high stress area carrying keel and mast loads, I'd find someone in the area who does these repairs professionally, and have them take a look at it. It is sadly true, not everyone will give you an honest answer, but since the problem appear to go all the way through the hull, I'm guess they are structural not cosmetic.

And that they can be repaired. The only question is how extensive they are, and what that will cost. If you have insurance on the boat, you might want to put in a claim and let them deal with it. (Just be real sure about that before you call them, if you do.)
 
#11 ·
a side-to-side (latitudinal?) stringer.
Athwartship ;) Looks like a serious but pretty simple repair - make sure the boat is well blocked so there wont be any flexing when you cut out a bunch of glass - it looks like you'll have to cut right through the hull in at least some of that area.

As others have noted - if you repair it DIY, make sure ALL the damaged laminate is cut out, grind a big bevel on the surrounding laminate, inside and out, use only epoxy resins and compatible fabrics.

Definitely get it professionally assessed first.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the replies. I have owned this boat since 2008, survey didn't turn up any of this. The glass sounds solid in the area hitting it with a hammer. I hit a sunken boat a few years ago but that was going maybe 1 knot. The boat was in a marina last year for a few weeks that at very low tides would have my keel sitting on the bottom and lean the boat over a bit.

I think I'll start grinding today, see what I can see.

Keel ballast is about 4800 lbs.
 
#13 ·
I wonder if this was caused by improper blocking and support. When you have your "professional" come out to look at it, have them examine how the boat is supported.

If your marina did it wrong, you may have a case for having them pay for the repair.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Alrighty, a little more info, I think the crack on the inside of the boat is a separate thing. Looks like some resin pooled at that spot when they laid up the boat, and this resin pool cracked. But the crack stops where it meets the actual fiberglass. So I no longer think this crack extends from outside to in. Which as you all mentioned was scary.

I had the head guy at the boatyard come look at this, his advice was to grind it out a bit and fill with thickened epoxy, keep an eye on it at subsequent haul outs. I'll do a little grind and see what I see. I want to be careful I don't do too much here, I think I could easily end up doing more damage with some aggressive grinding than the situation warrants. And I'm learning if I try to make this boat perfect I'm never going to go sailing!
 
#19 ·
I would considering removing all the bottom paint in this area to see if you have any hidden repairs in this area that might not have survived as well as the rest of your boat.
 
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