Re: catalina27-talk: Doing the Keel right and other issues.

[mcewenjv]

Debbie Gillis wrote:

>
>  My keel (# 47) has rusted out the orginal bolts, had those
> replaced, and just about finished rusting that set out. In looking
> at the Catalina Direct "solution" I am just not happy with bolts
> that are going to rust out in another 10-15 years.  Has anybody
> placed large diameter s/s rods through the keel and placed nuts on
> the bottom, nuts on the top then fared the keel? I plan on glassing
> the bilge, and then placing my stainless steel  washers and nuts on
> top so you can drop the keel in  an extreme shoaling emergency.
> Now going from the very bottom to the top, does anyone have a roller
> furling main? Is there any manufacturer who will work with us on this?
> Is there anyone out there who has a wheel steering that they want to sell?
> This is just the beginning as I "update" a good old boat. They say
> love is blind.
>


Debbie,
   One of the options from Catalina was to use 1/2"-13 Stainless Steel rods and nuts inside the keel.  You drilled down 4 feet (I think) into the keel from the bilge, and then drilled in from the side to meet the first hole.   You used the side hole to place a nut (actually a 1-1/2" diameter rod that had been drilled and tapped for 1/2-13 on its side) in the keel, then dropped the 4 foot rod down to it.  Tightened everything up, patched the hole in the side of the keel and slap some anti-fouling paint on it.  Drilling 4 feet into the lead keel wasn't easy, I think some people reported about one hole a day, and then drilling in from the side depended on having the first hole very vertical.  So that's why Catalina went to Lag bolts, something that looks like a wood screw, that takes a nut and washer. http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1072
    To help distribute the load on the keel stub(the fiberglass area that the keel attaches to) sometime small stainless steel plates were uses under the washer.  Whiskey Girl, a 73 model, has had the nuts and washers replaced with stainless steel or maybe Monel to the original bolts, and a couple of lag bolts added at the forward end of the keel, but the main keel bolts are still the original threaded rod that the lead was cast around.  I have a GIF file of an unnumbered Catalina Drawing dated 4-27-84 which shows both types of installation.  I got it off of Judy B's Bijou website:  http://www.blumhorst.com/catalina27/images/keel_factory_drawings/   which has some other factory drawings that may be of interest.
     If you haven't seen them, search at http://bbs.trailersailor.com/search.html in the Catalina 27 Archives, use the search words "keel bolts".   Lots of posts, pictures and tales of lessons learned the hard way.

Jim, "Whiskey Girl"
1973 C-27
Dana Point, CA