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Our Albin Ballad is sitting on the hard for three or four years, undergoing an extensive top-to-bottom refit. Among the tasks are removal and retabbing of the major bulkheads, pulling up & re-bedding the cabin sole, and a bit of structural glassing near the mast step strut and the aft end of the keel/hull transition, where some sloppy repairs indicate a past grounding. (Here I ought to mention the Ballad has an integral fin keel, lead ballast in bottom 30".) All interior furniture is getting rebuilt, too.
Anyhoo, the boat sits on its keel with plenty wooden shoring and some tiedowns to resist Wyoming winds. As commonly happens, boat sitting on keel rather than keel hanging from boat creates a bit of a hump in the cabin sole & some minor distortion in the hull shape versus same boat in watery mode.
Should I take steps to unload the keel before fitting the replacement bulkheads and re-glassing the keel areas? If so, how best to simulate the hull's natural shape? Slings? Cradle? One of our tasks will be adding a couple floor stringers athwart the keel sump, & I'd hate to build distortion into the repair due to the upward thrust of the keel.
Anyhoo, the boat sits on its keel with plenty wooden shoring and some tiedowns to resist Wyoming winds. As commonly happens, boat sitting on keel rather than keel hanging from boat creates a bit of a hump in the cabin sole & some minor distortion in the hull shape versus same boat in watery mode.
Should I take steps to unload the keel before fitting the replacement bulkheads and re-glassing the keel areas? If so, how best to simulate the hull's natural shape? Slings? Cradle? One of our tasks will be adding a couple floor stringers athwart the keel sump, & I'd hate to build distortion into the repair due to the upward thrust of the keel.