I’m not sure I’d encapsulate the keel…. A lot of work and In the event of a grounding the glasswork could be damaged and would admit water and this would eventually create a mess. I view the metal bolt-on keel as an advantage in this regard. My first boat was a steel-plate swing keeled trailerable I bought (trashed) from a bankruptcy auction. it’s glassed-over 700lb steel plate keel had lived hard and been badly repaired more than once. I removed and repaired, re-skinned and faired it, whacked it once myself, repaired it in-situ again and it was fine for the duration. Later versions of this boat had a shaped cast-iron swing keel which was a much better idea. On windstar (the 33-2 has a deep high aspect fin) I very carefully rebedded and torqued the keel then skimmed the joint with a grinder and applied a 6“ wide band of thin glass cloth/epoxy and faired that. The keel and bilge stub look like a single unit. To my surprise it has lasted for 6 years or so without any sign of trouble. Ymmv
Dave Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 20, 2022, at 12:42 AM, Dreuge via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: > > Doug, > > The keel on my LF38 was encapsulated by a previous owner. I do not know the > detail of how it was done, but it appears the it was fiberglass wrapped with > epoxy but was then faired with polyester fairing. I know this because when > I first hauled her out, the keel was loaded with blisters whereas the rest of > the hull had none. The blisters were only in the fairing. I assumed that > polyester fairing was used to make it easier to sand the fairing. It was a > bad idea, so don’t let anyone try to convince you to fair with a polyester > fairing. I ended up grounding off all of the fairing and I found the > underlying epoxied fiberglass in rock solid shape. I then redid the fairing > using epoxy mixed with 50-50 colloidal silica & 3M glass spheres. And easily > sanded it smooth with an orbital sander. It has been over 8 years and is > still in perfect shape. That said, having owned another C&C previously, and > experienced the smile, I do check the keel bolts out of habit but have had no > issues. > > The keel does have a large bolt head sticking out of it. It is basically > right in the center on one side. It looks like someone drilled a hole and > threaded the bolt in. I left it in place assuming that it was possibly done > for a lightning ground. To be clear, this is not a garboard drain. > > I have a write up on my blog about this: > http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/p/projects.html Go to "Bottom and Hull > Work”->”Barrier Coat and Bottom Painting”. > > > - > Paul E. > 1981 C&C Landfall 38 > S/V Johanna Rose > Fort Walton Beach, FL > > http://svjohannarose.blogspot.com/ > >> On Dec 19, 2022, at 12:41 PM, Doug via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> >> wrote: >> >> I have a question for everyone here. Here in mexico where labor is cheap and >> craftsmanship is good. I'm wondering about fully encapsulating my keel. The >> thought behind this would be to eliminate the worry of my keel bolts. I can >> see (access) a total of 2. There is one under the mast and who knows how >> many below the engine down about 3 feet. >> Just a thought as I don't show any signs of a loose keel yet. >> >> >> >> Doug Mountjoy >> sv Rebecca Leah >> C & C Landfall 39 >> Port Orchard Yacht Club >> +1 253-208-1412 >> >> Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and >> help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: >> https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >> Thanks for your help. >> Stu > > Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help > me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > Thanks for your help. > Stu
Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks for your help. Stu
