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Compac 16' Keel advice needed

11K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  johnnyonthespot 
#1 ·
Hello,
I recently purchased a 1976 compac 16' and would like to know what the material is used for keel ballast. I drilled a couple of 1/4" holes in the bottom of the keel and water came out ao I am assuming that the keel material will have to be removed and replaced with.... what? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
 
#6 ·
If it was mine, I would just drill a few more holes, let it dry for a couple of months, and seal it up. Maybe see if you could get epoxy to flow through from the top. Then plug the holes on the bottom, and fill the void with epoxy. Again, this is just me. There is probably a better way to do this.
 
#9 ·
Interesting job. Are you going to remove the bilge to access the ballast or go through the encapsulation from the outside. The bilge would leave an intact encapsulation to refill, but then you need to structurally replace the bilge. The encapsulation probably needs to be reinforced, but more curious is how you insure a good bond to the encapsulation, when you refill.

The lead will change the weight of the ballast, but I doubt that will make sailing her all that different. If significant, it may alter her waterline though. Is your plan to imbed the ingot into an epoxy slurry of some kind? Insuring this slurry bonds to the existing glass?
 
#11 · (Edited)
Interesting job. Are you going to remove the bilge to access the ballast or go through the encapsulation from the outside. The bilge would leave an intact encapsulation to refill, but then you need to structurally replace the bilge. The encapsulation probably needs to be reinforced, but more curious is how you insure a good bond to the encapsulation, when you refill.

The lead will change the weight of the ballast, but I doubt that will make sailing her all that different. If significant, it may alter her waterline though. Is your plan to imbed the ingot into an epoxy slurry of some kind? Insuring this slurry bonds to the existing glass?
yes I will use some type of epoxy slurry. I am going to pop the cap to get access to the encap.
 
#10 ·
Cool idea with the lead. It should sit lower in the keel and make the boat stiffer. It will be less dense so you will have some void space to fill. You might want to consider the weight of the filler too. Those compac 16s are already pretty heavy boats, so I wouldn't want to over do it.
 
#12 ·
The ingots may or mayn't fit together well. I made up a mould of 2" angle irons welded with flat bar strip for ends. they fit together well one row up to next row down. Length could be how wide the cavityy is. after lots of strengthening glass. Fill with slow kicking resin. Same weight as concrete but lower down is good.
 
#15 ·
I've seen on other sites and the net where people have good luck cutting lead with a course, carbide tipped skil saw, miter saw, table saw, etc. So I can always cut an ingot into filler pieces and then slurry it in.... I hope...lol. You know concrete ballast just sounds like a bad idea, esp since the top of the ballast is the lowest point in the hull making it an ideal little reservoir for any intruding water. I thank god I'm in florida and don't have any freezes to worry about or good bye keel I would think. This may sound dumb but why the "strengthening glass"? If you lay and fill around the ingots and then slurry it, that should suffice, no?
 
#14 ·
Well, I've decided on the lead. According to the reaearch I have done you get a lot more bang for the buck if you use lead. Also I want to make sure it good and dry so the top is getting popped and the concrete taken out. I want a total restoration and not be worrying about a keel being half repaired, or anything else for that matter.
 
#20 ·
I owned a late 70s Com Pac 16 and when I got it it had suffered a grounding at the leading edge of the keel and the glass encasement at the bottom had split from the forward edge down the port side at the turn about 2/3rds of the way aft. The ballast was solid lead and was exposed, obviously. I repaired it by first cutting back and dressing up the ragged edges of the keel encasement, then used a tube of West Marine self-mixing Six10, the caulking tube stuff, which I injected between the lead keel and the fiberglass encasement, all along the bottom. I then used a floor jack with a 2x4 on it so it applied pressure the full length of the bottom of the keel and sandwiched the encasement up against the lead keel. Six10 was forced out as it the space between the keel and encasement was closed up. I spread the excess that squirted out along the gap to fill in the edge that I'd cut back and dressed up. Once the epoxy had cured I sanded the edge smooth and roughed up the encasement up several inches along the leading edge, bottom, and port side of the keel, before applying fiberglass woven roving wetted out with epoxy. Once cured I fared the keel repair using an orbital sander. Then I used plain old white spray paint to finish it up. Looked pretty good and never had any further problems with any delamination or any other issues. The boat had been on the hard for a while before doing this and so the keel was fully dry before I effected the repair.
 
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